


Troubles of the Future

by Sanime



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Caring Alec Lightwood, Caring Magnus Bane, Fluff, Good Boyfriend Alec Lightwood, Good Boyfriend Magnus Bane, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Smut, Minor Character Death, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sick Magnus Bane, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2018-09-30 15:13:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10165733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanime/pseuds/Sanime
Summary: The life seems good for the Shadowhunters of the New York City Institute. But not for long. Their peace is threatened when a hunting party goes missing, weird energy flares start happening all over city and a unique pair shows up at the Institute desperate for help. Alec's hands are full as the Head of the Institute without their new guests bringing along a new enemy to their doorstep.-------...there stood two terror-stricken children with pale faces and tear-stained cheeks. Though they seemed well dressed, their clothes were covered in dirt and their feet were clad in mud. They were holding each other like a lifeline and looking at him with a look Alec couldn’t quite decipher. There was fear, relief, and uncertainty in the way they stared at him.Alec knew one thing for sure: both were certainly too small to be wandering alone...





	1. Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic for Shadowhunters, but don't spare me any critic. I'd love to hear what you have to say.  
> It takes place some time after a slightly AU version of 2x20. (Everything's almost the same. I just need Simon not in the Seelie Court)

Alec was distracted. It was a normal day in the Institute. There were a couple of demon sightings he'd sent people to investigate but other than that it was a bit sluggish. Even Clary and Jace managed to stay out of trouble and were busy training. At least Alec liked to think so - too many times he had walked in on them lost in a liplock and completely oblivious to their surroundings. Alec made a note to himself not to barge into their rooms without knocking. Ever.

However, it was also the day a certain Warlock had decided to come over and check the wards. Alec was pretty sure that it wasn’t a six-hour job, and it was already turning into seven. He understood his worry after the demons summoned from Edom had disappeared into thin air but it was already the third time that week and he was getting slightly frustrated. Magnus, the flourished, eloquent man he was, gave him a wink and a smile when he had mentioned that.

“My dear Alexander, the layers of my work may be unapparent to the public eye, but they are definitely there,” except Alec was pretty sure that one of those layers included Magnus displaying himself to Alec in every possible seductive manner while staying somewhat decently clothed.

Alec felt like he was missing something. Their relationship was going great and he hadn’t heard any complaints from his boyfriend, but, even though they both were a bit rattled after the attack and the brief break-up, this was still unusual behavior for Magnus.

“Alec?” He heard the taps of his sister’s heels before her head popped up in the doorframe of his office door.

“Yes?” He swiped down the security footage of his boyfriend having a chat with one of the new recruits and looked at Isabelle. He was definitely not jealous of the joke Magnus had laughed at. He could make Magnus laugh as well.

“I think you’ve had enough for today,” she gave him an all-knowing smile. “Why don’t you take your boyfriend home?”

“I am home,” he frowned at her.

“Please, brother,” Izzy put her hands on the hips and tilted her head sideways with an unimpressed look on her face. If he hadn’t known better he would’ve thought she was feeling sorry for him. “You spend all your free time at Magnus’. At this point you only change clothes and sleep in your room,” she smirked at him, “when you’re not too tired to portal back.”

He heard no judgment in her voice, only the teasing tone with a hint of proudness in it. He liked her idea, and he would have liked nothing more than to take his willful boyfriend home and do some distracting of his own. Except, the distracting part hadn’t let him have any work done.

“I still have things to do,” he sighed in defeat.

“Oh, your work will be there in the morning, when you don’t have your hands full of a petulant warlock trying to get your attention.”

“Izzy…” He was about to argue but was interrupted by his sister’s annoyed huff.

“Fine, I’ll take over.”

“What? NO!” He was not about to pass on his own neglected work to his sister, who probably had plans of her own for the evening.

Izzy had a different idea. She defiantly stormed her way over to his desk and took a scrutinizing look at his piles of paper.

“Don’t worry. I am not gonna do ALL your work. Just tell me what you can’t postpone until tomorrow,” she looked him in the eye with that challenging look in her eyes that was a perfect weapon against his brotherly instincts.

Miserably he pointed at a small pile of reports.

“Great!” She clapped her hands together. “Now, go spend some time with your man!”

He was forcefully pulled up from his seat and pushed out of his office before he had any chance to protest. He barely managed to snatch his leather jacket before the door behind him slammed shut. For a moment he stood there shell-shocked at his sister’s forcefulness but he snapped out of it and fondly shaking his head allowed her to have her way.

He had no trouble finding Magnus. To his annoyance, he was still chatting away with the new recruit.

“Magnus!” He approached them, putting a hand at the small of Magnus’ back, equally surprising himself and Magnus. His wedding aside, he wasn’t much for the public display of affection. “Dante!” He nodded at the younger man.

“Alec!” The brown-haired man straightened up from his relaxed position. He was shorter than Alec but his sharp jawline, narrow brown eyes, and shortly cropped hair made him look older than he actually was. “I was just about to finish my report, I’ll bring it to you as soon as I’m done.”

“I’m done for the day, so just hand it in tomorrow morning,” he felt Magnus’ surprised look at him and tightened his hold on the man’s waist.

“Eh? S…sure,” Dante stammered, clearly feeling out of place, before finally saying his goodbyes and leaving them alone in the hallway.

“So,” Magnus turned against him, tapping his hand with the purple colored nails at his chest lightly. “Someone’s skipping work, huh?”

“I thought you would be the last person to mind that,” he mirrored Magnus’ flirtatious smirk.

“That depends,” the older man stepped closer, weaving his hands around his waist. Alec pulled him flush against his chest, fitting Magnus against him perfectly. “Who are you planning to spend the evening with?”

“No one particular,” Alec partially wondered where this flirting was coming, but Magnus was looking adorably pleased so he didn’t stop. “There’s this certain warlock who’s been distracting me lately. You may know him.”

“Hmm?” Magnus pretended to contemplate it. “Does he has a fabulous sense of fashion?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve been told I’m hopeless in that department,” Alec leaned closer, his breath fanning across Magnus’ lips.

“Hopeless, huh?” Magnus’ words were whispered against his lips and he shivered as they ghosted his skin.

“Completely,” he sighed and finally his lips reached Magnus’.

The warmth and softness of the kiss engulfed him whole and he pressed closer, tightening his hold on the other man, darting his tongue out to briefly pass Magnus’ lips, asking for entrance.

The warlock complied and Alec sighed as he explored the familiar taste of Magnus. It was deep and languid as if they had all the time in the world to explore one another over and over again. Magnus’ mouth on his had become a familiarity he couldn’t imagine ever letting go.

Eventually, to both of their dismay, they had to pull up for air, but they didn’t pull back from each other, letting their breaths mingle and become one.

“I should distract you more often,” Magnus sighed, all soft and pliant in his arms. One word came to Alec’s mind as he looked at the man in front of him and he couldn’t help the corners of his mouth pulling up in a smile.

“What is it?” Magnus asked, curiosity shining in his eyes, and Alec just smiled at the simplicity of it.

“I’m happy.”

It was a simple statement but Magnus’ eyes lit up and his own lips formed into a smile.

“You better be.”

Alec didn’t know what had overcome him, but he nuzzled his nose in the man’s neck breathing in the scent, that had become a part of his life now. He was starting to get sappy, but as long as nobody except Magnus found out he was completely okay with that.

“How about I portal us to my loft and I show you just how happy I can make you?” Magnus whispered in his ear and Alec shivered at the underlying promise.

“By the angel, yes,” he reluctantly pulled back to give Magnus the space to open the portal.

Magnus didn’t waste any more time. He pulled him by the hand through the portal and he ended up stumbling into Magnus’ bedroom. No sooner had the portal closed as Magnus’ lips were once again on his.

“Angel, I missed this,” Magnus gasped between the kisses. He was a flurry of hands and mouth, working his way to get to Alec’s skin. Alec returned the favor, adding Magnus’ shirt to his own on the floor.

“Off, off, off,” Magnus murmured working his way from his mouth to jaw, lightly nipping there, before settling on his pulse point.

“Dear God!” Alec moaned, his hands momentarily still before he started again with new vigor. His hands cupped Magnus’ ass, pulling him close and eliciting a shuddered moan from him as their clothed members got the so much needed friction.

Their pants disappeared somewhere on their way to the bed and by the time Alec had Magnus sprawled on his back, Alec couldn’t care less. He had flesh to explore, pleasure to deliver and a beautiful man to satisfy.

“Alexander,” Magnus whimpered as he laid feather-light kisses all the way from his neck to his navel, admiring the golden skin.

“Shh,” he crawled back to kiss Magnus’ swollen lips, groaning how close Magnus was clutching him.

“Alexander,” the older man ground up against him and Alec moaned in the kiss.

“Yes,” he blindly reached for the supplies, desperate to maintain the kiss. Magnus was a hot, needy mess underneath him and Alec couldn’t pry his eyes away from him.

The warlock had lost all control over his glamour and the half-lidded golden eyes were making his breath catch in his throat. He let his free hand wander and his mouth distract as he set to work, enjoying the whimpers and moans, slipping past Magnus’ lips.

“Now, Alex…an…r,” Magnus moaned in barely audible whispers, the sound getting swallowed up in the heated breaths. Alec could never say no to Magnus, so he braced himself on his elbows, Magnus’ legs wrapped tightly around his waist, and with a shuddering kiss he slowly joined with his lover.

He listened to Magnus’ short pants and occasional whimper, delivering kisses first to his temples, then sliding his lips down to his jaw, back up to the corner of his mouth, and finally to the lips, exploring them all over again and lightly catching the lower lip with his teeth.

“Alexander,” Magnus shuddered, arching into him.

“Magnus,” he let out a trembling breath his voice wrecked and broken.

It was slow and languid, just like the kiss at the Institute. They basked in the heat of the other’s body and breath. The sound of the heartbeats and the moans escaping their lips. The feel of each other and the love, affection and desire shining in their eyes.

When it all finally shuddered to a halt, Alec couldn’t force himself to let go of Magnus. Instead his lips found Magnus’ once again and he lazily confirmed his happiness, his fingers stroking Magnus’ cheek when he felt moisture under the pad of his thumb.

“Mags?” He pulled back, but stayed close enough to not break their bubble of bliss. “You’re crying.”

Magnus’ golden eyes widened in surprise and he gingerly touched the corner of his eye, “I am.”

“Happy tears,” he said when Alec leaned down to kiss them away. “So happy.”


	2. Idiot to Catch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was done with the help of my wonderful beta - shiny_starlight. Thank you so much!

Magnus woke up to a familiar warmth pressed against his back and he couldn’t help but snuggle deeper against it. The arm around his waist tightened its grip and a content sigh reached his ears. He smiled into the pillow.

“Good mornin’,” Alec whispered against his hair.

“Good morning, Alexander!” He shifted in the warm embrace so he could face the sleepy Nephilim.

The tousled look and the sleepy eyes, shining brightly with love and affection, made his heart beat faster and Magnus pressed a light kiss to the tip of Alec’s nose.

“I don’t wanna get up,” Alec nuzzled his head in Magnus’ neck, making him squirm as the warm breath tickled his skin.

“I can see that,” he laughed.

Magnus was gifted with a lazy, content smile, making his heart swell with pride at the knowledge that he put it there. He was more than okay with Alec shuffling deeper under the covers and just laze around, but their little bubble of bliss was popped when the shrill sound of a ringtone cut the silence in the room, making Alec growl in protest.

“Not here.”

Magnus laughed slightly at his lover’s antics, but they both knew that Alec would answer it. He would never forgive himself if something happened when he could have prevented by just answering a phone call.

Begrudgingly the tall, lean man got up and, giving Magnus a disappointed look, answered the call.

“Jace, this better be worth…” Alec didn’t finish. His features changed from annoyed to genuinely concerned and Magnus sat up straighter in the bed, brows pulled together in worry.

“Mhm,” After a pause of silence, Alec agreed to whatever Jace had said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“What is it?” Magnus asked as soon as Alec ended the call, already moving to get dressed, and passed Alec his shirt.

“A patrol hasn’t come back,” Alec solemnly put on the shirt, his movements losing the ease and gentleness which they possessed whenever Magnus was near and shifting to the strong, precise actions of a soldier. Magnus in the meanwhile located his purple silk robe.

“Do you think something happened?” Magnus straightened the collar of Alec’s leather jacket as the Shadowhunter was lacing his army boots.

“They didn’t report anything,” Alec straightened up. “By the Angel, if they just went straight to some club they will be on ichor duty for the rest of the year.”

“Darling, I’m sure they are fine,” Magnus wrapped his arms around him and looked up into his soft brown eyes. “I’ll make you a portal. Go scare some kids.”

Magnus gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before waving his hand to summon a portal.

“Thanks, Magnus!” Alec leaned down for a firmer kiss and Magnus had to remind himself that he couldn’t monopolize the Nephilim and take him back to his bedroom.

“Be safe, Alexander!”

“Always am!” He called over his shoulder as he disappeared into the portal. As soon as the portal closed, the loft was enveloped in a silence and Magnus sighed.

“I have to get a pet,” he looked around the suddenly empty apartment before retreating into his bedroom to start the day properly – with a long shower and healthy amount of make-up.

He wasn’t really looking forward to the day’s clients. There were a couple of mundanes, a Seelie, a werewolf couple and on top of that, a meeting with Raphael.

However, as he brewed his coffee and sat down to eat a croissant, freshly summoned from his favourite bakery, (yes, he had memorized their baking schedule for the best time to get his baked goods fresh and piping hot) an impatient knock made him freeze, the pastry inches away from his lips.

He looked pitifully at the warm golden croissant in his hands, contemplating whether it was worth killing somebody over.

Possibly…

The rude intruder banged his fist on the door again and with a scowl, Magnus rose from his stool, determined to rid the intruder of his last penny if there was so much as a scratch on his door.

“WHAT IS IT?” He threw the door open quite unceremoniously, startling Luke on the other side.

“Magnus.”

Luke’s grave tone and forehead furrowed in worry made something twist in Magnus’ stomach.

“Come in,” he said, stepping back to let the werewolf in. As they moved to the living room, Magnus snapped his fingers to urge Alec’s coffee machine make another cup of the black brew. “Talk,” he ordered as he summoned both mugs of coffee to the table in front of them and sat down opposite of the pack Alpha.

“Magnus,” Luke started with a heavy sigh and Magnus frowned at the calming tone he used. People usually used it when they were about to tell the other party something they wouldn’t like.

“I have to ask this,” Luke said, gracing him with an apologetic look. “Have you been practicing dark magic?”

Magnus blinked. Then looked at the younger man and blinked again.

“I’m sorry?” he got out, anger rising from the insult.

“The pack has been sensing weird shit all over the city,” Luke continued, despite clearly being aware of the resentment he must be radiating. “There are spots without any smell or some with smells that shouldn’t be there. My wolves are complaining of headaches and dizziness.”

“And how does that have anything to do with me?” Magnus was aware he let the hurt slip into his voice.

“You know werewolves are sensitive creatures. We feel when something is out of the natural order.”

“That is strange, I’m not going to lie. But you didn’t answer my question,” Magnus was quite proud of the fact that he managed not to growl at the leader of the werewolves. “ What makes you think it’s black magic? And, more importantly, why do you think it was me?

“I talked to Meliorn, asked if maybe that’s their doing. If they have gates to parallel universes, who knows what they hide,” Luke gave him a determined look. “Seelies are just as stumped as we are as to what it is exactly but they say it’s definitely dark magic. Powerful dark magic.”

“And?” Magnus urged him forward, knowing fully well what kind of accusation will follow.

“You’re the most powerful warlock in New York.”

“I also don’t trifle with dark magic,” Magnus took a sip from his mug and didn’t spare Luke the disappointed glance. “That should have been enough to cross me off your suspects list.”

“It was my job to ask, both as a detective and a pack leader.”

“Then you’ve done your job,” Magnus stood from the chair and pointed to the door. “I presume you’re not so delusional as to not find the door.”

“Magnus,” Luke sighed but Magnus only rolled his eyes, as he turned to look at the city slowly drowning in the morning rush. “We could use your help.”

“Who couldn’t?” Magnus made a swift turn to face the werewolf. The remorse on the ex-Shadowhunter’s face was enough to convince the warlock to at least listen to him.

“I’m sorry we jumped to conclusions,” Luke rose to his feet. “For all, we know somebody could have portalled here.”

“Oh, you thought of that only now?” Magnus couldn’t resist the sarcasm.

“Look, I said I was sorry,” Luke growled at him, brushing a hand over his face. “Will you help?”

“I will.”

Magnus had had 400 years of self-discovery. He could pretend all he wanted but at the end of the day, he always cared. He would still help his fellow Downworlders, no matter how idiotic they sometimes were. Not that the whole world had to know how soft he was. He had a reputation to upkeep after all.

“Thanks,” the subtle smile which graced Luke’s features told Magnus that he was well aware he would get the help he wanted.

“I’ll look into one of your ‘spots’,” Magnus squinted at him.

“Great. Get ready. We leave at five,” Luke took the cup and settled back into the cushions. 

Magnus took a second to gape at the man, who was so certain that he could monopolize his entire day without a care in the world, but quickly gave up in the favor of heading to the bedroom to change out of his silk gown.

Yes, he had welcomed the New York pack leader in his morning robe. People had seen him with less.

“Magnus get ready. Magnus make me a potion. Magnus fetch,” he mumbled quietly under his breath. “I’m not the dog here.”

“I heard that!!!” Luke’s loud, thundering voice bellowed from the living room.

“Good!” he yelled back.

When he finally entered the living room after spending good fifteen minutes deciding on what to wear, Luke was clearly losing patience. Smugness spread through Magnus at Luke’s frustrated expression, but he couldn’t force himself to feel bad about it. Luke had been a dick. He should have asked Magnus’ opinion first before throwing about wild and hurtful accusations. Cooling his heels in Magnus’ tastefully decorated apartment (if Magnus did say so himself) for 15 minutes is a small price to pay.

“You took your time.”

“Beauty has its price,” Magnus raised his arms and looked down at his tight black pants, multiple necklaces layered over his favorite dark blue shirt with a subtle black pattern and the black jacket with glittery blue lapels and equally sparkly blue cravat. He couldn’t see his slightly blue hair but he knew they looked just as magnificent.

“Shouldn’t that price be your time, not mine?” Luka asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We both know I’m not getting paid for this... little adventure. Consider this compensation.”

“Let’s get going.”

“Where to?” Magnus decided to get to business.

“Just make a portal, I know where it is,” Luke explained and stood beside Magnus as he opened the portal. Magnus touched Luke’s shoulder, trusting him to lead them both to the right location and they immediately stepped through.

Magnus winced as in the next moment his feet landed in a puddle in the entrance of a filthy alley.

“Why does it always have to be an alley?” he groaned as he looked at his shoes. “I just bought them in Paris.”

“You’d rather it be in the middle of Brooklyn Bridge?”

“At least it would be cleaner there,” Magnus sighed but didn’t waste more time and turned around to take in his surroundings.

There were a couple of dumpsters giving off a nasty smell, an almost completely faded sign of a restaurant which had probably closed years ago, some backdoors leading to other businesses but nothing that immediately made Magnus suspicious.

“Ugh,” Luke groaned behind him and Magnus glanced back to see him hunched over with his hands resting on the knees.

“Hey, you OK?” he made his way back to the man.

“Just nauseous,” he groaned and Magnus lightly touched the man’s temple, allowing soothing blue lights flicker along Luke’s body, getting rid of the feeling. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Magnus made sure the man really wasn’t about to fall over and turned his attention back to the surroundings.

He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on his other senses as a warlock and gently allowed his magic to reach out in careful twists to the atmosphere itself. However, as soon as his magic reached deeper, he reeled back, his magic slamming back into him in a rush causing him to stagger and heave with the force of it.

“Dear Lilith!”

“What? Magnus, what is it?” Luke was immediately at his side, a strong arm around his shoulders keeping him steady.

“The matter,” he gasped from the overwhelming nauseous feeling. “It’s all wrong. Broken.”

“What do you mean ‘broken’?” Luke urged, but Magnus still couldn’t wrap his head around the chaos he felt. His stomach churned and he just hoped he could prevent his morning coffee to make its way back in his throat.

“Let’s get back to the loft,” he heaved. With every moment he spent in the alley, the feeling became more overwhelming and Magnus felt like he was drowning in it. He had to focus more than usual but with a flourish of a hand, he managed to open the portal. Magnus allowed Luke to lead him through it and settle him on the couch. He leaned back, focusing all his energy on taking some deep breathes. He was feeling slightly better now that he wasn’t surrounded by… that anymore, but the terrible sensation still lingered.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked worriedly, but Magnus was too focused on keeping his breakfast where it belonged to answer. “Maybe I should call Alec,” Magnus heard Luke pull out his phone and start to dial, and squeezed his eyes to concentrate.

“No,” he groaned, putting his head between his knees and focusing on taking deep breaths in and out. “He has his own problems. He got a call-out this morning from Jace. It sounded urgent. Don’t disturb him.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Magnus sighed as the sickness finally receded. “I’m better now.”

“Here,” a glass of water appeared in front of him and he looked at Luke, wondering when he managed to go get it.

“Thanks,” he took small sips, letting the cool water ease away the sour taste in his mouth.

After he finished his glass and his stomach remained settled, he sat back and looked over at Luke, who was perched on the end of the couch, a worried look on his face, waiting patiently for an explanation.

 “What was that?” he asked when Magnus got more comfortable in his cushions.

“Someone either not knowing what they are doing or doing it on purpose,” Magnus frowned at the memory. “Neither option is ideal, if I’m honest. If it’s the first one, then that means that we have an untrained spell-caster wandering around my city, causing trouble. But if it’s the second option…” he took a deep, steadying breath. “Well, in that case, it is so much worse.”

“So, it’s a warlock?” Luke leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, hands clasped tightly together.

“Without a doubt,” Magnus sighed.

Warlocks like this made it difficult to live in peace and created stereotypes his whole community had to deal with. They made every warlock look like they are brewing poisons or practicing dark magic as a hobby, when the truth was most warlocks could barely put up a half-decent ward. That is why High Warlocks existed, why Magnus spent his days portalling around New York and always had a potion to brew or a spell to cast. Simply put, most Warlocks just couldn’t even hope to accomplish in a week what Magnus could do before lunch.

“Someone you know?” Luke’s question pulled Magnus out of his quiet fussing.

“I couldn’t locate the traces of magic, but I’m certain I don’t know anyone who could do this.”

“Then how do you know it’s a warlock?” Luke frowned.

Magnus took a deep breath before starting to talk.

“Imagine the aftereffects of a bomb,” Magnus fiddled with one of his rings, as he thought how to better explain it. “Your ‘spots’ are blast sites. We just don’t have a visual because it all happens at the level of matter.”

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t there have been some big explosion or something, taking half the city out?” Luke furrowed his brows

“That’s mundane science,” Magnus sighed. “I’m talking about the matter of magic and the atmosphere.” Luke’s confusion only grew and Magnus rubbed his temples, thinking of an easy explanation. “Someone has been magically tampering with the matter, messing with the levels. The result was what I assume was a bad reaction between the two which ended in an explosion, leaving the site scrambled. Shards of magic and matter itself blown out of order and creating a chaos. Your werewolf senses picked that up but you couldn’t understand it, making you feel sick and dizzy because of the information overload you weren’t aware you are receiving.”

“And that doesn’t affect the real world?” Luke clasped his head and brushed his palms over his face, suddenly looking much older than he should.

“Not if you are Mundane,” Magnus pondered for a while. “If someone has the Sight, they would probably be aware of something being off.  They mightn’t get the full blown nausea that we experienced, but they would feel unsettled and uneasy. Mundanes should be oblivious. What else do you know about theses blast sites?”

“Just that they disappear in a day or so.”

“They don’t,” the warlock corrected him. “The matter just probably shifts back into a balance. I would guess that what we saw there wasn’t the actual spell but rather a failed attempt of it. It’s the same as when a rookie warlock gets a spell wrong and causes an explosion.”

“So you’re saying somebody is trying to cast a spell that messes with natural order of things and failing at it?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Magnus felt his anger rising at the reckless warlock who didn’t seem to care about the consequences an apparently was hell-bent on making his life difficult.

“Can these failed attempts pose a threat?” Luke kept questioning.

“Yes,” Magnus sighed, hating being the bearer of bad news. And today had started out so pleasantly… “Any spell done incorrectly could pose some kind of level of threat. The more difficult the spell the worse are the consequences if it goes wrong.”

“Can they go more wrong?” There was real apprehension in Luke’s eyes as he took in all the information. This truly was a serious matter.

“It depends on what the warlock does in the future,” Magnus hated to admit it, but he was mostly working with theories and substantial evidence. “I’d say they more or less know what they are doing, and that the location of blasts show that they don’t want to cause attention. Whatever they are trying to do, it’s a serious spell for it to cause such aftereffects only because of a failure.”

“So we need to find the moron who is doing this,” the Alpha let out a tired sigh.

“Definitely. Eventually, they could hurt themselves and others,” Magnus agreed solemnly.

It looked like his clients will have to wait. He had and an idiot to catch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone else have had trouble dressing Magnus? It's so hard to do right by him. :D
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	3. Families

Alec was slowly losing his mind. He had three young Shadowhunters missing and with all the people working on it, he still had no idea where to look. They had been sent on a simple patrol with specific instructions to report before engaging in any kind of action.

They hadn’t been heard from since they left the Institute.

To make matters worse, these three Shadowhunters were not from the New York Institute. They had all recently passed their trials, and had become fully fledged soldiers. They had been but a few of the two dozen reinforcements the Clave had sent in the wake of Valentine’s attack to bolster the Institute’s numbers. Alec had met them briefly, but with dealing with the day to day running of the facility, going out on hunts and spending time with Magnus and with his family, he had not had the chance to get to know them well. And now, here they were. Any moment now, he would need to greet the families portalling to the Institute after hearing the news, and tell them he had lost their children.

They had lost so many Shadowhunters during Valentine’s attack; people were not prepared to lose their comrades again so soon. Things were supposed to be getting better, safer. Especially since Valentine's death.

“You’re doing it again,” a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up from his desk to meet Jace’s frown.

“I’m not doing anything,” he insisted, despite knowing how futile it was.

“So, you’re not blaming yourself?” His _parabatai_ leaned against the edge of the desk and raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not trying to take all the responsibility?”

“I am supposed to take the responsibility, you know?” His argument only earned him a disappointed huff from Jace.

“You’re gonna wear yourself out. Wear _us_ out.”

“Sorry,” Alec lowered his eyes, gently touching the _parabatai_ rune on his side. “I didn’t mean to.”

He hadn’t even been aware that he’d been projecting his negative feelings on Jace. He knew, _felt,_ how much his brother was hurting on his own without Alec dumping his problems on him.

“I didn’t come here to make you blame yourself more,” Jace stretched his neck to one side, making it crack.

“Then why did you come here,” Alec pushed back his chair from the table. The distance between him and the papers gave a false sense of freedom.

“You might want to come to the op center,” his brother sighed. “We may have another problem.”

“Jace,” Alec groaned. “I don’t have time for another problem.”

“Hey, this time it’s not my fault!” Jace raised his arms in surrender.

“Half of my problems can be traced back to you,” Alec gave him a pointed look, but he knew that Jace wouldn’t take it offensively.

“C’mon that’s not true,” Jace pouted. “Lately most of them have been connected to Clary.”

“And who brought Clary into our lives?” he asked, standing up from his chair.

“You can’t fool me! I know you don’t dislike her as much as you’re pretending to,” Jace flashed his character smirk at him. “And since you’re going about it like this, then it’s pretty obvious whose fault this is. You should blame Mom.”

“Why?”

“Maryse was the one who decided to adopt me, so all your problems are her fault actually.”

Alec stared at his brother for a moment before giving him an affectionate pat on the back. “We both know that was the best thing to ever happen to us,” Alec rolled his eyes at the blond.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, joining Jace and heading together down the hall to face their newest problem.

“Our radars picked up a weird signal coming from the city.”

“Any idea what caused it?” Alec asked, already mentally shifting around his priorities to try to see where this would fit.

“No idea but Izzy’s on it, you should ask her.”

“Ask me what?” his sister turned in her chair as they entered the op center.

“About the signal,” Alec faced the screens who were already running algorithms. “What do you know?”

“Not much, but I can say there’s been more than one.” Isabelle faced the screens again, her manicured nails running along the keyboard.  “I’ve found several other places with residual energy similar to the one we caught on our sensors.”

“And?” Alec urged her to continue.

“It’s been going on for a while,” Izzy shrugged.

“Okay, then,” Alec brushed his hand through his hair, hating how little information they actually had on this phenomenon. “Is it dangerous?”

“Who knows?” Izzy sighed. “Probably?”

“Fine. Both of you keep looking. I want a report on my desk by the end of the day,” Alec put his hands on his hips and turned around, looking around the room filled with Shadowhunters. “I have my hands full with the missing scouts.”

“We’ll find them, Alec,” Jace clapped him on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” his answer has halfhearted at best. He was about to warn them to stay out of trouble when somebody shouted his name.

“Mr. Lightwood!”

He turned around to see a young Shadowhunter he wasn’t quite familiar with yet running towards him.

“Alec,” he corrected him out of habit before scowling at the young man. “What?”

“The Bredfords are here,” he informed him.

Dread settled heavy on Alec’s shoulders and he couldn’t help glancing worriedly at his siblings. They gave him a reassuring smile but it didn’t help much. No, it didn’t help at all. Alec didn’t have nearly as much faith in himself as his siblings seemed to have.

“Where are they?” he asked with more bluntness than he intended.

“Eh… I showed them to your office, sir,” the man informed him before making a quick exit. Alec didn’t blame him. He wouldn’t want to deal with this either if he had the choice. With a sigh, he left his siblings with encouraging pats to their backs and headed back to the office to meet the first of the concerned families.

He had half the mind to go as slow as possible but quickly dismissed the idea. When he reached his office, he tamped down the desire to turn on his heel and march in the other direction and not stop until he was far enough away that he could take a breath without feeling like the world was crushing on his chest. But he knew, no matter the distance or how far he went, that would never happen. A Shadowhunter; an older brother; a leader to his core, Alec knew his responsibilities and his duty. Still, he would rather take on a hoard of Shax demons than face whatever was on the other side of the door. Shaking his head at his own foolishness, he forced himself to open the door.

“Mister Lightwood.” He was immediately greeted by a tall woman with brown hair pulled tightly back into a bun at the nape of her neck and a flaming red dress that contrasted sharply with his otherwise dull office.

“Ms. Bredford,” he greeted in return, shaking her hand and noticing a little girl of about six partially hiding behind her mother. He led her to take a seat and only then took the seat next to her. There was no need for him to sit behind his desk and look all stoic. He was faced with a concerned mother and he knew from his own experience the last thing she needed was a figure of authority looking down on her.

“Where is my son?” she demanded, getting straight to the point. Her eyes were sharp with unwavering determination, though the hand clutching her daughter’s was trembling slightly.

“We still don’t have any updates on Chris or the whereabouts of the other two Shadowhunters,” Alec forced himself to look her straight in the eye as he delivered the news.

“Other two?” she asked. “Who else has gone missing?”

“Your son’s teammates,” Alec sighed, bringing his hands together. “Dante Galdwin and Sofia Ravenhill.”

“And all three of them are just missing?” Ms. Bredford’s green eyes didn’t stray from him and the intensity in them made Alec feel personally responsible for her son’s safety. He wasn’t sure he was ready to meet the Galdwins and Ravenhills after this.

“We are not sure what has happened yet, but we have search parties out looking.” Alec was well aware how indefinite were his own answers were. “There were sent out approximately 27 hours ago with orders to check out reports of a nest of Shax demons in Queens. It should have taken five hours at most. They were due to report in by six am, but they never did. We’ve sent teams out to their location, and we’re expanding our search as we speak.”

“Will you find my brother?” This time, it was the little girl who spoke. Her own big green eyes were a replica of her mother’s, and Alec could read the fear for her brother in them. Despite the life they lead, she was only a little girl, and she still seemed to have the innocence and hope that all children have. Alec just prayed to the Angel that he could help keep that girl’s innocence intact for even a few days longer.

In contrast, her mother’s eyes held the sharpness and grim reality of a Shadowhunter that had lived long enough to see the truth, and to know the reality of a missed check-in. It never meant something good.

“Forgive me. This is my youngest, Cathleen.” The woman gave her daughter a reprimanding look, though it didn’t stop the child from stretching out her right hand to him.

“My friends call me Cat,” she smiled at him and Alec took her hand in his and shook it gently.

“I’m Alec,” he smiled at the girl who gave him a pleased grin.

“Momma!” Cathleen whipped around and her mother picked her up on her lap. “I like him. Alec will find my brother!”

Ms. Bredford’s eyes darkened at the statement and she looked at him questioningly. He couldn’t mask the surprise from the girl’s statement in time and so the woman just solemnly shook her head.

“Cathleen, Mr. Lightwood is going to do his best,” she sternly looked her daughter in the eye. “Your brother is a warrior. Be proud.”

Cathleen nodded her head so that her small curls bounced up and down cheerfully but Alec felt his stomach drop. Ms. Bedford didn’t believe he could find her son. And, as Alec passed the family on to another Shadowhunter who was to show them to their quarters, he knew that the woman had every right to feel like that. In their line of work, a missing Shadowhunter almost always meant a dead Shadowhunter. The chances of finding them alive were slim.

Alec didn’t feel ready to face another family, at least not so soon. But he had no choice and he certainly wouldn’t push this onto someone else, so he opted for the only thing that could make the upcoming conversations more bearable.

He called Magnus.                                                                                                    

As the phone was on its fourth ring, however, unease started to creep through Alec’s mind. Magnus always picked up on the first or the second ring. Maybe he had a client, he reasoned. Maybe he didn’t have time and it was selfish of Alec to think that Magnus had nothing better to do with his time than chat away with him. Alec was already expecting the call to disconnect when Magnus picked up. He heard some shuffling and a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

“Magnus?” he asked in a worried tone.

“Hello, darling,” the familiar deep voice rang out and Alec couldn’t dismiss the way his shoulders slumped in relief as if they’d just had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders.

“You okay?”

“Just a table corner that got in my way,” Magnus laughed and Alec frowned. The warlock moved swiftly and gracefully like a current. It wasn’t like him to bump into things. His frown deepened even more when he noticed how slightly out of breath his boyfriend sounded.

“You sure you’re okay?” He wasn’t convinced. The slightly longer pause on the other end just proved he was right to get worried.

“You’re too smart for your own good, Alexander,” Magnus huffed fondly. “I’m fine. A bit tired from my last client.”

“You should rest.” Alec wanted to kick himself for bothering Magnus when he clearly needed the time for himself. “I’m sorry I called.”

“Nonsense, Alexander,” Magnus’ reprimanding tone carried over even through the phone. “Hearing your voice recharges me better than any nap could.”

“That statement lacks logic,” Alec smiled fondly.

“That’s the power of love, darling,” Magnus laughed and Alec couldn’t help but bask in the sound of it. “Though I am wondering what spurred on this sudden call,” Magnus changed the subject and Alec blushed thinking about the reason.

“I… I wanted to hear your voice,” Alec mumbled half-hoping Magnus didn’t hear it. There was a long pause and Alec even took the phone away from his ear to look if it hadn’t really disconnected this time. No, the display was still counting the time of the call.

“Magnus?” He asked, his voice trembling slightly, much to his own annoyance.

“Angel,” Magnus finally spoke up, sounding hoarse. “I think you just broke me.” Alec was glad Magnus couldn’t see him. He was quite sure his face was as bright as the flashiest of Izzy’s red lipsticks.

A pause settled over the line, with Alec being unsure how to respond to his boyfriend. However, Magnus saved him from more awkwardness by letting out a breathy sigh.

“Now I really can’t wait to see you, darling,” he said softly.

“I can come over tonight,” Alec offered without even fully considering it himself. “Only… only if you want,” he added immediately.

“Alexander, there’s never a moment where I don’t want you,” Magnus laughed and Alec smiled at the sound.

“Great,” he tried to ignore the stutter his heart made just at the prospect of seeing Magnus. “I…I’ll see you tonight.”

“Can’t wait, darling,” Magnus laughed gently.

Alec would have loved to keep talking but he heard shuffling and muffled, raised voices in the hallway and resigned himself to having to end the conversation.

“I have to go,” Alec rubbed his temples with one hand.

“Go save the world, darling,” Magnus responded. “I’ll wait for you.”

They said their goodbyes to each other and Alec put the phone back in his pocket as he stood up to deal with whatever was happening behind his door. Whatever was going on out there sounded suspiciously like a fight and he really didn’t want to deal with that.

However, as he opened his door he couldn’t help but feel disappointment wash over him. There, put in a headlock by Jace and surrounded by three more of Alec’s people on alert, was a young Shadowhunter and Alec sucked in a sharp breath as he took in his appearance. He looked just like Dante, one of the missing Shadowhunters.

As soon as the man laid his eyes on him, Alec saw anger flare up in his face and steeled himself for the worst.

“You did this!!!” the man who Alec guessed was Dante’s brother yelled and started fighting against Jace with renewed vigor. “You killed by little brother!” Alec hated being right sometimes.

“Calm down, Galdwin!” Jace snarled but the man didn’t even pay him any attention. His eyes were focused on Alec with deadly precision.

“Jace, let him go,” Alec ordered. He didn’t want Galdwin to be restrained for this conversation. It didn’t help that he could easily put himself in the man’s shoes. He was familiar with the rage that came knowing your sibling, your loved ones, were in danger. It needed to be directed at something or someone and Alec couldn’t really blame the Shadowhunter for choosing to direct it at him.

That’s why, when Jace reluctantly let his grip on the other Shadowhunter weaken and the man launched himself at Alec, he didn’t move. He didn’t even try to avoid the fist that painfully collided with his jaw and sent his head reeling sideways. He tasted blood from his split lip at the same time he heard Jace’s furious yell.

“Get him under control!”

Alec wanted to object, but Jace shoved him roughly back into the wall as several men restrained Dante’s brother until a sleeping rune was put in place and he slumped in their hold.

“That wasn’t necessary,” Alec grumbled as he waited for the brother to be taken away before retreating in his office.

“Why did you do that?” Jace ignored his protests and growled at him. Alec couldn’t muster enough courage to look his _parabatai_ in the eye so he kept his back to him and didn’t respond to him.

“Why did you let him get that hit?” Jace snarled at him and Alec felt two strong hands grabbing his shoulders before he was spun around and met face to face with a furious Jace. When he didn’t answer, Jace’s face twisted into an ugly grimace and he was roughly pushed away.

“Dammit, Alec!”

Alec couldn’t hold back anymore. He squared his shoulders and faced his brother.

“What was I supposed to do?” Alec asked instead. “Dismiss him? Feed him lies like Aldertree would?”

“You were supposed to block a freaking fist and not let him bust your face up!” Jace shouted in frustration, gesturing at his face.

“I lost his brother, Jace!” Alec refused to give in. “The least I could do was let him get one hit in!”

“The least you could do?” Jace gaped and Alec steeled himself as he saw Jace taking a lungful of air. “The least you could do is look for his brother!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Alec felt his face heat up and his breaths going in shorter and shorter puffs of air. “I spent the whole day looking!”

“You spent the day behind a desk!” Jace yelled back. Alec took a step back at the unexpected accusation.

“That’s my job,” and spluttered.

“Alec,” Jace breathed in a steady breath before continuing. “Your job is to be out there in the streets looking for them. You’re keeping the second best hunter in this Institute behind a desk.”

Alec regarded the blond for a moment, mulling over in his head what he had just heard and as much as a surprise it was to himself he let his shoulders drop in relief.

He looked around the office finally recognizing the feeling that’s been nagging the back of his head for the whole day. He felt like a caged animal. He craved the rush and feel of the cool air against his skin when he was out hunting. The office, the papers, and the long phone calls were slowly eating him alive.

He let his eyes wander back to Jace.

“Second best?” he smirked.

“Let’s not get over ourselves!” Jace gave him his famous cheeky smile and Alec longingly eyed his leather jacket thrown over his chair.

“You free to do some tracking with me?” Alec turned to look at the blond Shadowhunter already knowing the answer.

“Thought you’ll never ask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to shiny_starlight for being a beta for me and making this chapter so great!
> 
> Drop a comment and let me know what you think! :)


	4. A privilege

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new chapter. After this one things are going to get a tad bit crazy. I really hope you all like it.

Alec slowly made his way up the stairs to the loft, each step feeling heavy with both emotional and physical exhaustion. The hunt with Jace had helped but now he craved the calm and safety which only Magnus could provide. He unlocked the doors and made his way in the loft, inhaling gratefully the sweet and slightly spicy scent of sandalwood that always lingered in the air. It always helped ground him, calm him down and he appreciated it now more than ever. Alec stripped his gear and left in on a rack Magnus had specifically made for him and toed his boots off before silently making his way further inside. He was almost physically aching to get his arms around Magnus and bask in the warmth of it.

All his plans went out the window though when he heard a muffled sound coming from the apartments and he paused, ears straining to identify the sound.

“Magnus?” he called out, carefully making his way deeper into the loft when he heard it again. It was coming from the bathroom and it sounded suspiciously similar to someone throwing up. The groan that followed made Alec pick up the pace and when his knock yielded no reply, he cautiously opened the bathroom door to find Magnus kneeling at the toilet, his hands clutching the sides of the bowl and his face buried in the crook of his elbow.

Alec dropped to his knees, his own exhaustion momentarily forgotten at the sight of his pale, clammy, and slightly green, lover.

“Magnus, what’s wrong?”

“Alec,” Magnus croaked out, his voice rough and raspy from the retching. Alec noticed beads of sweat covering his face and the way Magnus’s arms trembled with the effort to hold himself upright. “You can go,” he tried to speak through heavy breaths, his golden eyes glassy and barely meeting Alec’s in an effort to stay awake. “You don’t have to see me like this.”

Alec furrowed his brows at the plea and got up, but instead of leaving, he picked up a clean towel. He ran it under the cold tap before wringing it out and pressing it to Magnus’ nape where his black hair was wet and sticky from the sweat.

“Shh,” he whispered when Magnus moaned at the contact. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Alec did have to leave for a moment to bring Magnus a glass of fresh water to wash his mouth with but he tried to make a point of staying by his side at all costs

He was desperate to find out what had happened to leave Magnus as ill as this. From what Magnus had told him, Warlocks were immune to Mundane illnesses, and very rarely got sick. To find him so incapacitated really worried Alec, but he knew answers would have to wait. His first priority was to look after Magnus, and now that the vomiting seems to have subsided, he needed to get Magnus to the bed and let him sleep. Alec sneaked an arm around the warlock’s chest, careful to avoid his stomach, and gently pulled his lover backwards until he was able to lean back against his chest. Magnus’ head immediately fell back against his shoulder in surrender and Alec used to moment to wipe the sweat off of his face and neck, taking care to being as gentle as possible.

“Disgusting,” he heard Magnus’ murmur against his ear and Alec gave him a sad smile.

“Don’t be silly,” he chided, gently maneuvering the older man so he could pick him. “You’re just sick and I want to help you.”

He slowly made his way to their bedroom, taking note of Magnus’ deep, shuddering breaths and how much of a dead weight the warlock felt in his arms.

It took some effort and manhandling to get Magnus out of his tight clothes and under the blanket, but after what seemed like an eternity of struggling and fear of harming Magnus in even the tiniest way, he finally did it. When his boyfriend was finally soundly asleep and the shudders had stopped, Alec allowed himself to breathe in a deep breath to quench the worry and fear bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

By the time Magnus was settled, it was very late, and Alec’s own exhaustion hit him again with full force. With a deep sigh and stretch, he stood and made himself move. He did a quick clean up in the bathroom and prepared a glass of cold water and a bowl with ice where he could dab the towel to cool Magnus off if he needed it in the night. Alec didn’t know what was wrong with him and he didn’t know how one normally treated a sick warlock. It made him feel helpless, and if there was one thing Alec hated, it was seeing someone he loved suffering and being unable to stop it. He wished he could do more but he had to manage with what little knowledge he had learned from his sister. When Magnus felt better, he could ask him what was best to do if something like this ever happened again.

Sometime early morning, after watching Magnus sleep for hours without any incident, Alec had fallen asleep himself, lulled to sleep by Magnus’ sweet scent and how peaceful he looked. He was woken a few short hours later by movement next to him. It took his foggy, tired mind a few moments to realize what that meant, but as soon as it clicked, he was upright in the bed, staring in concern as Magnus groggily began waking up.

Magnus squeezed his eyes shut before opening but when he did Alec wanted to cry with happiness when saw bright golden cat eyes staring him, confused but focused.

He let his shoulders slump in relief as he exhaled, “Thank goodness.”

“Good morning,” Magnus shuffled and finally sat upright.

He looked healthy. A bit tired and still pale, but something you could chalk up to having a long day at work and not throwing your guts up in the toilet.

“I was so worried!” Alec breathed out before gathering Magnus in his arms as gently as his worried heart allowed him. The steady thud of Magnus’ heart against his chest and his strong breaths against his neck settled something in Alec, and was one of the best feelings in his life. Magnus was alright.

“I’m okay,” Magnus murmured into his ear, but Alec just shook his head in dismissal. He’d already made plans in his mind to call Jace and have him cover for him for the day. Even if Magnus was alright, that kind of sickness took its toll on a body, and he knew that his place was here.

“I don’t ever want to come home to that again,” he whispered in a shaky breath. “Ever.”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus pushed back only to lean his forehead against Alec’s shoulder, effectively hiding his face and making the shadowhunter miss his heat terribly. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry you had to do that.”

Alec frowned and pulled back a little, ducking his head to meet Magnus’ eyes. He spoke clearly, directly and as honestly as he could so Magnus could have no doubt how he felt about it.

“You have nothing, and I repeat, nothing to be sorry about,” he stated, hazel eyes boring directly into Magnus’ sad, golden ones. “I feel awful because you were feeling ill but I will always do anything to make it better. I don’t care how disgusting or bothersome you think you are. It’s not true and to be able to take care of you like that, for you to trust me that much… It’s not a burden. It’s a… it’s a privilege.”

He took a deep breath, finishing his speech which in all honesty, may have been the most he’d spoken about his feelings in one sitting. Ever. He warily eyed Magnus to gauge his reaction.

His boyfriend’s eyes widened and Alec already started to fear that he’d said something wrong when his lover threw himself at him, and Alec barely managed to wrap his arms around Magnus before they toppled on the bed. Alec’s back hit the mattress with a thud, Magnus’ body a welcome weight on top of him.

“Magnus?” he asked, unsure.

“What a surprise you are to me, Alexander!” Magnus let out a watery laugh before bringing their lips together brief, but intense kiss. Alec started to protest when Magnus pulled back slightly, but his boyfriend only pulled back enough to give him space to snap his fingers. The taste of mint swept through his mouth, and he blinked up to find Magnus grinning down at him.

“Just being accommodating,” he grinned cheekily, before pulling Alec back into a searing kiss that seemed to heal all the emotional wounds Alec had borne the whole night.

Eventually, they needed to part in order to take in a breath but Alec didn’t release his grip on Magnus’ waist. When the warlock rested his forehead against Alec’s and hazel eyes met with the golden ones, everything fit back into place and though Alec desperately wanted to know what had happened to Magnus to make him so weak, he decided to save that question for later.

When Alec finally gathered the strength to untangle himself from his lover in order to prepare breakfast for them, he was met with a very clingy and pouty warlock.

“Stay,” Magnus whispered, tightening his hold on Alec’s waist and attempting to bribe him with gentle butterfly kisses down Alec’s neck.

“Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be,” Alec laughed, giving his boyfriend a fond look. “You need to eat something and get back your energy.”

“All I need is your kisses, but those lips of yours are too far away,” Magnus pouted.

“You can’t live off of my kisses alone,” Alec laughed, before he gave in and placed a quick peck on his lover’s forehead.

“I can try,” Magnus answered with a sly smirk and Alec groaned as he managed to slip out of the bed.

“Don’t even go there,” he reprimanded his silly boyfriend before noticing Magnus swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and summoning his silk robe. “And where are you going?” he asked, arms folded and eyebrow raised.

Magnus looked over his shoulder at him with furrowed brows, “You said I need to eat something, so I’m getting up.”

Alec let out an exasperated breath before walking around the bed and gently pushing Magnus back on his back by his shoulders, “No. You’re going to stay in the bed and let me spoil you.”

“Nope,” Magnus shook his head, making an even bigger mess of his bed head.

“Magnus,” Alec sighed but one look at Magnus and the defiance shining in his eyes told him that he was fighting a losing battle. Magnus was aware of it and didn’t even attempt to hide how smug he was feeling.

“Fine,” Alec groaned. “But you’re staying on the couch.” When he saw Magnus open his mouth to protest, he quickly swallowed his shyness and added, “Where you’ll have an unrestricted view of my ass.”

He saw Magnus’ eyes widen in shock before he felt heat creep up high on his cheeks and he stepped back.

“I think I’m a bad influence on you,” he heard Magnus say behind him as he made his way to the kitchen clad only in his dark blue boxers. He shot a quick text off to Jace telling him he wouldn’t be in today before pulling down the ingredients for Magnus’ favorite chocolate chip pancakes.

The slight awkwardness of walking around just in his underwear was quickly overshadowed by the joy of seeing Magnus settle on the couch with a blanket around his shoulders and an appreciative smile on his lips. The pancakes took more concentration than usual to make, mostly because the ever-present eyes on him were making him very conscious of his own movements. But gradually, he settled into it, actually relishing the empowering feeling towards the end. It felt like a very thrilling game where no words were uttered and no touches made, but the feeling of the other person in the room was more intense than ever.

When he finally assembled the plate with pancakes and maple syrup and made his way to Magnus, there was a subconscious swing in his hip and a strange confidence in the way their eyes met. Magnus’ gaze shifted from intimately tense to soft and sweet, making Alec laugh when he made grabby hands at him. Putting the plate on the coffee table, he complied and allowed his lover to pull him into his embrace. Alec stretched out and rested his head against the couch’s arm and Magnus snuggled into his side, one his leg thrown over Alec’s narrow hips and his fingers tangling Alec’s hair in a mess.

They had settled in a loving silence when the warlock propped his chin on Alec’s chest, “I’m sorry.”

Alec looked down at his lover in confusion, “For what?”

“For being so hard to spoil,” Magnus’ eyes shifted to where his fingers were playing with Alec’s hair. “I’m just…” Magnus tried to force the words out, “I’m not used to being spoiled.”

When Alec’s brows furrowed in confusion, Magnus met his eyes with a sad, slightly resigned look. “No one ever cared enough to do that.”

Alec’s heart gave a painful squeeze in his chest and he pressed a hard, lingering kiss against Magnus’ forehead. “I care.”

“I know,” Magnus leaned forward for a soft kiss on the lips and then leaned over Alec for the plate. “I have a huge stack of pancakes to prove that.”

The happy, bubbly feeling in Alec's chest was overwhelming as Magnus summoned a towel and carefully positioned the plate on his chest. He watched as Magnus picked up a small piece with a fork and offered it to him. He gratefully took the bite, happy it still tasted alright considering how distracted he was making them.

As Magnus took a bite, he let out an over exaggerated moan. “Darling, I’m considering chaining you to the stove.”

“The stove?” Alec smirked. “Not the bed?”

Magnus eyed him for a brief moment and the let out a theatrically long breath. “True. That could prove problematic.”

Alec let out a genuine laugh at his boyfriend’s dilemma, silently enjoying how the color was returning to Magnus’ face and how his whole complexion had improved.

Together they finished the entire plate as Magnus took turns feeding Alec and then himself. They laughed through a ridiculous argument about the merits of being chained to the stove versus the bed. It ended with Alec bright red and Magnus explaining all the surfaces they could make use of on in the kitchen.

Once the empty plate was gone, and Magnus was settled comfortably back on top of him, Alec considered asking Magnus what had happened when they were interrupted by a shrill ring coming from the kitchen.

“Sorry,” Alec winched in apology as Magnus summoned the offending phone and handed it to Alec. He’d already let them know he wouldn’t be in, so for them to call him meant they probably really needed him. Checking the call screen to make sure it was someone he probably should answer, he saw that it was Izzy. As his biggest supporter in his relationship with Magnus, and as someone who is always telling him to take time for himself and for Magnus, he knew it had to be important for her to call him.

He accepted the call, and Izzy immediately started talking.

“Alec, we need you,” she said, completely skipping the pleasantries.

His sister’s urgent tone immediately got his attention. “What’s wrong?”

Magnus threw him a worried look and sat up to give him some space.

“Remember the energy flares we told you about?” Isabelle explained, her voice shaking like she was rushing somewhere. “Another one appeared. It sent the Institute’s sensors haywire; it’s twice as strong as the previous ones.”

Alec gave Magnus an apologetic smile before answering, “I’m on my way. Can you tell me the address?”

“Central Park. I’ll send you precise coordinates,” Izzy offered before saying something Alec couldn’t quite understand. “I’m taking Jace and Clary. We’ll meet you there.”

“Right, see you soon.” He waited for the call to disconnect before brushing a hand through his hair. “I have to go,” he told Magnus, wincing slightly. Magnus smiled at him, giving him and understanding look which Alec thought he didn’t deserve.

“I gathered,” Magnus got up and Alec resigned himself to having to cut the lovely morning short as he made their way back to the bedroom. “What happened?”

“I’m not so sure,” Alec replied getting dressed with his back turned to Magnus. “The Institute's sensors have been picking up weird energy flares and there’s been a big one. We have to check it out.”

“I’m coming with,” Magnus stated after a moment of pregnant silence.

Alec almost reeled back from the determination in Magnus’ voice. “What? No!”

“Yes, I am,” Magnus didn’t leave any room for arguments and headed for the bathroom, leaving Alec scrambling after him.

“Magnus, you’re still sick.”

But Magnus wasn’t even paying him any attention. He had already opened his cosmetics case and was eying the products.

“Magnus, please,” Alec tried again.

Magnus nodded to himself before snapping his fingers. When he turned to face Alec, his eyes were perfectly lined with black kohl and golden glitter. “I’m sorry, darling, but you won’t change my mind.”

“Why?” Alec growled his patience running low as Magnus swiftly maneuvered around him and exited the bathroom.

“Because,” Magnus turned to face him with a fierce look, “Lucian came to me yesterday with the same problem. Energy spikes in random places. Pack members falling ill. Things just not being right.”

“What?”

Magnus sighed, “We spent the whole day yesterday portaling around the city trying to find the warlock who did this.”

“A warlock is responsible for the spikes?” Alec barely could keep up with what his lover was saying.

“Definitely,” Magnus snapped his fingers again, leaving himself fully dressed in his version of Alec’s combat gear; Black, tight fitting leather trousers, long sleeved shirt with a Mandarin collar and a heavy duty, yet stylish, trench coat. He had minimal jewelry on, and Alec had to blink at the sudden change, and swallow down the rush of arousal. Magnus turned and raised an eyebrow at the shadowhunter, as if sensing his thoughts. “You ready?”

“Magnus,” Alec groaned in displeasure at the idea of his boyfriend on a mission when he was ill so recently.

“Alexander, we can either take a portal together or I can make one for myself,” Magnus put his hands on his hips. “And judging from how exhausted I was yesterday magic-wise, I’d prefer to minimize the use of magic as much as possible.”

That was a low blow, but dammit it worked. Alec knew he had lost the fight and reluctantly followed the warlock through the portal, determined to watch over Magnus like a hawk. When they stepped out in one of Central Park’s more secluded areas, they were met with three familiar figures.

“Morning, Magnus,” Isabelle greeted. “I didn’t know you’re coming as well.”

“Your brother was very determined to keep it that way,” Magnus smirked.  
Isabelle threw him an amused look and Alec felt the need to explain. “Well you can’t blame me after I found you barely conscious in the bathroom yesterday.”

Isabelle gasped. “By the Angel, Magnus. Alec told Jace you were unwell and he was looking after you, but he didn’t say it was that bad. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to come?”

“Alexander just likes to worry,” Magnus patted his cheek before twisting his head, looking around. “I promise you, I feel fine thanks the wonderful, caring hands of your brother here. “So, where’s the site?”

“Further down there,” Jace motioned to the left and headed off with Clary on his heels.

As they moved closer to the site Alec trailed behind everyone, warily eying Magnus’ back. The warlock had taken the lead and was walking a dozen steps in the front of the group, his eyes going every which way as he scanned the surrounding area. Thankfully, there were no Mundanes around but they still kept themselves glamoured.

Alec was about to ask if there hadn’t been a mistake and they ended up in the wrong place when Magnus suddenly swayed and barely managed to steady himself by catching onto a tree.

“Magnus!” he yelled, racing past everyone. The warlock raised his hand to stop him but Alec ignored him and made his way to his boyfriend’s side to help him. He had just reached him when the world swayed on its axis and he felt nausea crawling up his throat.

“Get back,” Magnus gasped out, pushing at Alec’s shoulder weakly.

Swallowing down the bile that was starting to burn his throat, he pulled himself and Magnus back, barely managing to keep them both on their feet when Jace’s hands came from behind to steady them.

Jace grunted and Alec noticed that he as well looked slightly green. “What the hell?”

“We’re here,” Magnus heaved, almost gagging as he spoke. The trio settled onto the ground and Magnus put his head between his legs in an effort to quench the sickness. Alec glanced around and saw that Izzy and Clary had stayed a couple of feet back from the others, trying to stay out of range of whatever was causing their nausea. The girls looked on in concern, their lips parted in an effort to take deep breaths to combat the sick feeling when it reached them.

“We have to get out of here,” Alec groaned trying to get to his feet and feeling his stomach rolling in a warning.

“No, wait,” Magnus grabbed his shoulder and pulled himself up. “Stay here,” he staggered forward despite Alec’s immediate protests and blue sparks bloomed from his fingers.

They twirled and shifted, changing in color. Some sparks were barely blue, almost white, while other were so dark they almost seemed black. It seemed like chaos at first but soon enough, a pattern emerge. The swirls of blue flowed together into a shape very similar to a portal.

Except this portal looked almost feral. The magic in it was twirling at an almost imperceptible speed. And it seemed like it had several more portals swirling within it at different angles.

“What the hell is that?” Jace gasped.

“That, my dear shadowhunters, is a portal,” Magnus replied, brows knitted together in either concentration or confusion. Alec guessed both. “At least, this was how it looked like before the spike happened.” Magnus pulled his hands apart and the shape exploded, the twirls of blue creating a chaos. Alec was feeling sick even looking at the mess of magic and trying to make a sense of it.

Another swirling motion from Magnus and the blue sparks disappeared. Alec was thankful. His senses were making him feel awful even without the addition of the visual information. Magnus looked back at Clary, sweat beading his forehead. “I would appreciate a portal, Biscuit,” he groaned.

Clary gave a curt nod in reply before drawing the rune and creating the familiar, swirling mass of gold. Alec didn’t waste a second longer, standing and heaving Magnus’ hand around his shoulders. With the other hand, he reached around the warlock’s waist and made their way to the portal, bringing Magnus with him.

“Think of the Institute,” he told the others just before they stepped though the swirling mass of magic.

The exit was rough and they toppled to the ground, but Alec let out a relieved breath when he saw his bedroom’s familiar walls.

“Dammit, Magnus,” he maneuvered the warlock onto his bed, feeling weak and nauseous himself but more worried for his boyfriend than himself. Magnus seemed to have gotten the worst of whatever that was, and Alec wasn’t happy at all.

“You are going to sleep now,” he ordered, shifting the pillows around Magnus’ head into a more comfortable position as the others spilled into the room behind them. He ignored their murmuring and groaning, his entire being focused on Magnus. His heart couldn’t take seeing his boyfriend so ill and incapacitated. He just wanted him to be safe and healthy. The helplessness at the situation was driving him mad.

Magnus let out a groan which Alec interpreted as an agreement and he set to removing Magnus’ bulky jacket and boots, but he stopped himself from removing Magnus’ pants and his long sleeved button-up. When he settled Magnus under the covers, the warlock was barely able to mumble a thank you and, though Alec wanted to do nothing more than to curl behind his lover, he forced himself to step back.

He turned to find the room empty, the others gone to their own rooms to treat the aftereffects of their mission and get themselves sorted. Alec’s nausea has mostly abated, though he still felt a bit sickly. He washed his face with cold water, hoping to clear his mind and quietly sneaked out of his room more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I big shoutout to my beta - shiny_starlight. The story wouldn't be the same without her.
> 
> Drop a comment to let me know how you like it so far! :)


	5. Brothers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy reading!

The more Alec stared at the blank screen in front of him, the closer he was to losing his patience. They were no closer to finding out the origin of the blasts than they were when they’d come back from Central Park and to top off his frustrations, the report he was currently holding in his hands showed just how little the scouts had found in their last patrol for the missing shadowhunters.

Magnus was still in his room recovering from overexertion and nausea with Alec visiting him every hour to make sure he was okay.  He had also asked Jace to run point with the missing kids and Izzy to lead the investigation into the blasts, but even their best shadowhunters didn’t seem to be enough to get a break on the investigations.

Alec tried to restrain himself from constantly badgering his siblings for updates. He hated how apologetic they looked every time they had to tell him that there was no news, no improvements. He also tried to avoid Mrs. Bredford. He didn’t stand in her way as she seemed to take matters of finding her son in her own hands, but he had tasked one of his own people with keeping an eye on her. There were so many moving pieces in the situation Alec felt like he barely kept up with everything that was happening.

He groaned in his elbow, his arms folded on his office desk and closed his eyes, trying to run over the facts in his head and organize them with as much sense as possible.

It didn’t last long.

His thoughts were cut short when the sharp alarm of their wards being breeched rang out in the room and forced him to snap in action. He jumped to his feet, immediately making his way to the door and running down the hallway. The Shadowhunters he passed immediately parted to give him room in his rush.

As he reached the ops center and was about to yell for an explanation someone gently grabbed his shoulder. He was about to snap at whoever it was that he did not have time for more problems but the protests died in his throat as he laid his eyes upon  Magnus’ brown, worried ones.

“What’s going on?” He had clearly just woken up, but Alec couldn’t help notice how perfect and on point he looked. But Alec also knew Magnus well enough to notice the well-hidden sluggishness and the slight tremble of the warlock’s hands.

“I don’t know,” Alec answered, trying to push his worry about Magnus back. He had to protect the Institute first, scold his boyfriend later. From the corner of his eye he noticed Jace’s blond head and they both crossed the room towards him.

“Jace?” he asked as he reached his _parabatai_ at the control panel. “What is it?”

“Two individuals without invitation are trying to pass through the wards,” Jace explained handing Alec his bow and a couple of arrows. Alec looked to his lover in concern, knowing full well how willing to help he was. However, Magnus just gave him a comforting smile before taking a seat at the table.

“Go!” He waved them both away.

Alec could only offer a grateful half-smile in return noticing Clary and Isabelle enter the room and wave at them, “Iz, Fray, with us!”

“ID?” he asked Jace, making their way to doors and exchanging a brief glance with Isabelle and Clary as they fell in step with them.

Jace only shook his head in denial as they reached the main door. Alec looked around to make sure everyone is ready and motioned at his brother to open the door. He pulled back an arrow and aimed it at the door. Behind him, he heard the snap of Isabelle’s whip.

“Ready,” he informed Jace and the blonde shadowhunter kicked in the door.

However, the sight beyond the door made Alec freeze in his place as he registered two pairs of frightened eyes.

“Stand down!” he ordered his sister and Clary who didn’t have a clear view from behind him.

Jace didn’t disarm but he did hide his seraph blade as best as he could behind himself. Alec slowly eased the arrow out of the bow and slowly without breaking eye contact lowered his weapons to the ground.

In front of them there stood two terror-stricken children with pale faces and tear-stained cheeks. Though they seemed well dressed, their clothes were covered in dirt and their feet were clad in mud. They were holding each other like a lifeline and looking at him with a look Alec couldn’t quite decipher. There was fear, relief, and uncertainty in the way they stared at him.

Alec knew one thing for sure: both were certainly too small to be wandering alone.

“Da-”, the younger one, who looked couldn’t be older than three started but his mouth was muffled with the older one's hand.

The older boy frantically looked between Alec and a pendant on his neck before he shook his head and whispered something to his companion.

Alec saw in horror as the younger boys blue eyes welled up and he let out a muffled wail. He tried to fight out of the hold of the older boy but when that didn’t work, he hid his face in the other child’s neck.

“Hey,” Alec finally found his voice, kneeling down to the boys. He couldn’t help a melancholic smile seeing how the older boy nudged the small one behind him. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you. What’s your name?”

The older boy looked at him suspiciously, judging him and hesitating. Alec already prepared himself to go on without an answer but the boy spoke up in a small but confident voice.

“Rafael.”

“And your friend?” Alec asked smiling at the small child who was eyeing him such heartbreak in his eyes Alec was confused why it was directed at him.

“My brother. Max.”

“Nice to meet you,” Alec smiled in what he hoped to be a reassuring way. “I’m Alec,” he motioned at his comrades behind him. “Those are my siblings Izzy and Jace, and our friend Clary.”

Rafael threw another questioning look at his necklace before answering with a disappointed frown, “Nice to meet you.”

Alec was surprised at the polite answer and even more confused about the whole situation altogether. They were clearly well raised and taken care. Alec didn’t want to think what had happened to force them to end up the steps of the Institute.

“Tell you what, boys,” Alec stretched out an open palm. “How about we go inside and you can shower and get new clothes before I’ll treat you to some hot chocolate? I have a friend who makes the best hot chocolate in the whole, wide world.”

The dark-skinned boy looked at him warily, squeezing his brother to his side before he hesitantly stretched out his own hand and Alec smiled in relief at feeling the small palm squeeze his fingers.

“You’re safe,” Alec repeated if not for anything else than to at least ease the raw expression of fear on both boys’ faces.

He rose to his feet, clutching Rafael’s hand as they passed his family and headed back inside the Institute walls. His siblings and Clary shared near identical looks of worry and confusion before quickly checking the entrance for any more stragglers. When they were sure that there was nothing else outside on the Institute front steps, they shut the heavy doors and followed Alec and the boys.

As the unusual trio entered the ops center and all eyes turned to them, Alec felt the boy push himself and his brother closer to his leg.

“It’s okay,” he tried to ease their minds and threw a searching glance around the room, looking for a certain warlock.

Their eyes met and Magnus immediately made his way toward them. He didn’t bother hiding his surprise at their new guests. Before he could ask some questions though, Alec kneeled down to the boy’s level again, letting his hand rest reassuringly on Rafael’s shoulder.

“This nice warlock will check if you’re not hurt, okay?” he explained as Magnus knelt next to him. However, Rafael immediately took a step back, pulling his brother along and clutching the pendant around his neck.

“That’s not Papa,” Rafael whispered to his brother who was reaching out his chubby hands and trying to get to Magnus.

Alec looked at Magnus questioningly but warlock seemed just as confused.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Magnus addressed the older boy calmly. “I’m Magnus. Did you lose your Papa?”

Rafael refused to answer, squeezing his eyes shut instead.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk,” Magnus reassured. “Can I check if you’re hurt anywhere?”

The older boy seemed doubtful but this time it was the youngest who made his move. He wrenched himself free from his brother’s arms and threw himself at Magnus, who in shock, barely managed to catch the distressed boy.

“I want my Papa,” Max cried, big silver tears rolling down his cheeks.

Rafael was about to jump to free his brother, but stopped seeing Magnus trying to shush the boy.

“It’s okay, honey,” Magnus immediately set to calm the child, holding him close. “We’ll find your Papa, okay. I promise.” Magnus pulled back to look at the boy’s puffy face. “Okay?”

Alec looked questioningly at the small boy in Magnus’ arms before turning to Rafael, “Is your Papa similar to Magnus?”

Rafael hesitated before nodding curtly, “Papa is a warlock.” He stepped forward and caught one of his brother’s hands pulling him away from Magnus’. Alec didn’t miss the hurt flashing in his lover’s eyes but he understood Rafael’s reluctance to trust them. They were strangers.

“At least let me check if you’re okay!” Magnus pleaded, addressing the older boy who was struggling to hold his sibling. Little Max didn’t seem too pleased from being forced away from Magnus.

Rafael looked around the room at all the shadowhunters eying him and Alec could not stop but wonder at how grown up the boy acted.

They patiently waited as Rafael finally came to a decision and nodded, “Okay.”

The relief that passed Magnus’s features was so raw that Alec was sure his lover would do anything to help the two lost boys. He watched as Magnus slowly touched their heads, not breaking eye-contact with Rafael, as if he was asking a permission for every inch his hands made toward the boys’’ heads.

Soft blue sparks wove out from Magnus’ fingers and Alec noticed both boys’ shoulders slump in relief. He was glad to see them relax slightly. When Magnus was finished, he turned back to Alec with a relieved face.

“They’re both okay. Just need to get some sleep and calm down.”

“You hear that, Rafael?” Alec smiled at the older boy. “You did good. You protected your little brother.”

To his surprise, Rafael answered him with a small smile and hugged the smaller boy closer.

“How about I get you two free of all this mud?” Magnus smiled.

“I promised them your famous hot chocolate,” Alec smirked at his boyfriend, trying to lighten a mood.

Magnus immediately caught on.

“Really?” Magnus grinned at the boys. “With lots of marshmallows and whipped cream? That one?”

Alec couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at the way Max’s eyes sparkled at the mention of sweets.

“That one,” he nodded eagerly. When Magnus looked at Rafael, the older brother gave his own curt nod, his eyes directed to floor in what Alec presumed to be shyness.

“Only clean boys get that chocolate,” Magnus laughed fondly. “Bath first?” he suggested holding out his hands and for the first time since meeting them, Rafael let his brother go out of his own free will and they each took Magnus’ hand.

Alec watched as Magnus led both boys away with his head turned downward and talking with them both. A foreign fondness overcame him at the sight and he turned away before his heart went in the wrong direction much too early.

“Izzy?” He addressed his sister who had kept around with Jace and Clary at her side. “Can you search the database for any Downworld siblings named Max and Rafael?”

“Of course, bro,” she said but he could already see the apology in her eyes. “But you know there’s most likely nothing there. We don’t keep records of every warlock child.”

“I know. But’s it’s worth a try,” Alec sighed. “We’ll question them when they’ll get some rest. Maybe they’ll have told Magnus something.”

“Sure,” Izzy answered before pulling Clary with her and leaving him alone with Jace who was wearing a suspicious smirk.

“What?” Alec groaned.

“Nothing,” Jace shrugged, but the teasing smirk didn’t disappear. “You were good with them.”

“I just remembered when Max was their age. Nothing special,” he dismissed.

“As you say, brother,” Jace clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m about to go talk to Luke. You’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, go,” he nodded. “Bring me some news.”

“Roger that, boss,” Jace teased and Alec could only huff in annoyance.

He retreated to his office and tried to do some paperwork, but found his thought stubbornly returning to the two brothers. After the second time he wrote the name Rafael in a report, Alec gave up and groaned, massaging his temples.

“A headache?” A soft voice came from the doorway and Alec looked up to see his boyfriend walk in with a tired but fond smile. Magnus made his way to the sofa and Alec stood to join him.

“Not really. Just a lot going on.”

“Tell me about it,” Magnus let out a humorless laugh and settled is head on Alec’s shoulder as soon as the shadowhunter sat next to him. Alec wrapped his arm around Magnus and pulled him a fraction closer.

“Did you find out anything from the boys?”

“Not really. They were both too tired and scared to talk. I decided to give them some peace,” Magnus sighed. “They’re sleeping in your bed by the way.”

Alec smirked, “They need it more than me.”

Magnus hummed and for a while a comfortable silence blanketed them only interrupted by their soft breaths and each other’s heartbeats when Magnus pulled away to look Alec in the eye.

“I did find something interesting though,” he frowned. “They are not biologically siblings.”

“Really?” Alec gasped. He had suspected that they were adopted since they said their father was a warlock but he still thought that they were brothers.

“Rafael is a Nephilim,” Magnus nodded. “And Max is a warlock.”

“But they are regarding each other as brothers.” Alec wondered. “A warlock raising both a Nephilim and a warlock as siblings? I’ve never heard of that.”

“Me neither. And not to brag or anything, but I do know all permanent resident warlocks in New York. ” Magnus agreed, but his eyes possessed a melancholic shine to them. “It is nice though. I can see how much they love each other. And I would like to meet the person who raised them.”

“First we have to find him,” Alec groaned. “I just hope that if we do find him it won’t be too late.” Alec felt fear and doubt settle in his bones and he wasn’t able to shake it. “You saw those boys? What if it’s too late? What if there’s nothing to be found.”

“You will help them, Alexander!” Magnus cupped his cheek and delivered a soft kiss. “I have faith in you.”

Alec searched Magnus’ eyes for a lie, but they were so full of hope and belief Alec felt like suffocating. He sighed and decided to trust his love. Trust in Magnus’ faith in him. Because he didn’t know if he trusted himself at the moment.

“Will you stay and rest?” Alec asked carefully. He knew Magnus needed his rest but at the same time he knew it was not fair to ask Magnus to stop what he was doing when Alec wasn’t planning on doing that himself.

Magnus must have somehow read his mind because his shoulders slouched and he answered with a nod, “I will. But only because I don’t want that pretty head of your worrying about me as well.”

“Thank you,” Alec dropped his head in relief.

“But as soon as I’m back to half my strength I’m helping,” Magnus informed.

Alec could deal with that. He would never dream to order around the High Warlock of Brooklyn. “Deal.”

“Great,” Magnus smiled at him and their lips met in a brief sincere kiss before Magnus nuzzled his head under Alec’s chin and snapped his fingers for a familiar fuzzy blanket to appear around his shoulders.

“Magnus!” Alec scolded him. He didn’t want Magnus using magic whilst he was recovering, especially for something so small and non-essential.

“Nuh uh,” Magnus chided. “I’m tired. Since a couple of adorable boys stole my bed, the least you can do is let me borrow your lap and summon my favorite blanket.”

“Your bed, huh?” Alec smirked as Magnus slid down and settled on his lap.

“Yes, well, you’ve privatized half of my bed in the loft,” Magnus explained with half-lidded eyes. “Now we’re even.”

Alec pressed a soft kiss to Magnus’ temple, running his fingers through the black locks.

“First you steal my heart and now my bed,” Alec whispered looking down at his lover and feeling heat creep up his cheeks.

“I’m a selfish man,” Magnus explained, looking up to him with soft gaze before smirking at him and getting more comfortable. “Now get to work,” Magnus laughed snapping his fingers and Alec’s tablet appearing in his hand.

“Magnus,” Alec warned.

“That was the last time,” the warlock laughed, passing him the device, without even looking at him.

“What am I going to do with you?” Alec groaned picking up the tablet but keeping the fingers of his right hand entwined in Magnus’ hair, running them is soothing motions.

He felt Magnus relax and slip into sleep but as his breaths deepened and evened out Alec thought he heard a reply.

“Love me.”

Alec looked down in surprise, feeling a painful pang of love completely tear his heart apart and put it back together in the best possible way.

His adoration was disrupted when he heard steps coming from the hallway and he threw a startled look at the door, realizing that they had left it open. He didn’t want to disturb Magnus, but at the same time he didn’t want to share his private moments with his subordinates. In the last effort to at least hide Magnus’ sleeping face, he shielded him with the tablet as much as possible and put an overprotective arm around his lying form.

But the steps neared and as he recognized the clicks of heels, he turned to face the door, relieved to see his sister’s slender form make an appearance. Isabelle’ features morphed from serious to fond and then teasing in a matter of seconds and Alec put a finger to his lips to warn her to stay silent.  She mouthed ‘later’ to him and with a wink turned around and shut the door behind her.

Alec grimaced, knowing the teasing that was sure to last for a week and set to reading the reports and listening to Magnus’ even breaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beta - shiny_starlight!
> 
> Also, how do you like it so far?


	6. The Pendant

As consciousness slowly crept at the corners of his mind, he let out a loud groan. He furrowed his brows at the feeling of rough sheets hugging his form, but a slow, tender caress on the side of his face eased his frown and delaying opening his eyes he scooted closer to the warm body next to him.

“Guest rooms suck,” he groaned in the bedmate’s shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of his own sandalwood shampoo mixed with Alec’s own scent of fresh air and something sweet he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Morning,” a husky voice blew air in his ear as a laugh shook the body he was pressed close to. “You were the one who gave away my bed.”

“Hmm,” he hummed enjoying the arms squeezing him tight to the Shadowhunter’s firm body.

“How are you feeling?” Magnus pouted as the question distracted him from enjoying the caresses on his bare back.

“Perfect, darling,” his answer was muffled by Alec’s shoulder and it hid the sly smirk he felt appearing on his lips. “You know, we could…” he didn’t finish, instead pulling a leg over his lover’s hip and pressing himself that extra inch closer.

“Magnus, no,” his lover groaned, understanding his intentions perfectly.

“Really?” Magnus finally pulled his face from his boyfriend’s shoulder where he had started to leave feather-light kisses and smirked. “Somehow, I feel your body is contradicting your mind,” he grinned, proving his point with a swift roll of his hips and watched in smug pride as the black-haired beauty under him hissed in a breath.

Magnus slowly trailed his fingertips from his lover's shoulder to further down south, but a large hand grasped his as soon as he reached the hips.

“We’re not having sex in the Institute,” his Shadowhunter whispered in protest. Magnus lived for the blush that formed high on his lover’s cheeks.

“Indulge me, Alexander,” he leaned forward and whispered in his lover’s ear, ending his sentence with a nibble on the earlobe.

“Dear, Angel!” Alec groaned but Magnus couldn’t bask in his victory for long as suddenly he was being spun and with a squeak, he couldn’t quite suppress, he found himself lying on his back and looking up at his very frustrated lover.

Alec answered his startled look was with a proud smirk. “You’re dating a Shadowhunter, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Magnus smirked before Alec decided to claim his lips in a bruising kiss.

Magnus allowed a groan escape at the intensity of it and shivered at the way Alec pinned his body deep into the mattress with his own. He pulled the toned body as close to his as possible, enjoying the shift in muscles as Alec moved on top of him and the way Alec’s five o’clock shadow brushed against his skin.

Magnus moaned as Alec nibbled at his bottom lip and snuck his hand from Alec’s bicep to his sleep pants, his fingers dipping below the elastic band when loud steps outside the room and a sudden ‘Wait up!’ startled them both.

Before Magnus could react, Alec’s teeth sank into his bottom lip painfully and he flinched taking in a sudden breath.

“Ouch!” Magnus pulled back on instinct, his fingers flying to his lips and Alec was off him in an instant.

“Oh God,” Alec gasped in shock as Magnus pulled his fingers back to look at the blood adorning the tips. “By the Angel, Magnus, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Oh God!”

Magnus’ eyes flickered from his fingers to his lover who seemed to have lost all color on his face, his hazel eyes wide. Alec threw a brief look at the door before his eyes returned to Magnus’ bloody lip and his face crashed with guilt.

“I’m so sor-”

“Alexander, it’s just a nick,” Magnus huffed. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“I hurt you,” Alec looked down in disappointment.

“Don’t be ridiculous, darling,” Magnus scooted closer to bridge the too big gap between them. “I’d like to think you left a mark on me.”

“Can you just…” Alec waived his hand in a lousy imitation of Magnus’ fluid movements. “Can you just please heal yourself?”

Magnus wanted to argue that he didn’t mind. It wasn’t like he was into pain play (though he had had a couple adventurous partners over his four hundred years), but he really didn’t mind the slight sting Alec’s teeth had left in his lip.

However, he saw his lover’s pale complexion and the dark, almost haunted, look in his eyes and he decided to agree to his request. A simple brush of thumb against his lower lip and a sparkle of blue magic and the cut was gone.

Magnus’ frowned at the way Alec’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“Kiss me.”

The words slipped out before Magnus could think better of it and he saw how Alec startled, lifting his head to meet Magnus’ eyes.

“I…” Alec’s gaze shifted to the door and then back to his perfectly healthy lip. “We should go.”

Magnus’ glare of annoyance at his lover turned into a slight pout as Alec moved to get out of bed. He knew fully well how Alec got when he thought he’d screwed up. And the Gods forbid how he got it he actually harmed someone, even accidentally. (Circle members really didn’t count…) If Magnus didn’t do something now, Alec wouldn’t touch him for the next 48 hours and Magnus would rather swallow a frog than let that happen.

“Kiss me,” he repeated with a growl, not moving from his spot on the bed, sitting cross-legged and glaring.

“Magnus,” Alec almost whined in frustration. “We have to-”

“Alexander Gideon Lightwood, you kiss me right this second or I’ll be forced to join forces with your wonderful sister and tell her that you refuse to kiss your breath-taking boyfriend.”

Alec faltered and he threw him a judgemental look before slowly making his way towards him. Magnus maintained eye contact as Alec gently cupped the side of his face, tilted it upwards and brought their lips together in a gentle and brief kiss.

Magnus bristled in annoyance. That was _not_ what he’d had in mind. As Alec retreated, he brought his hand up to cup the nape of his lover’s neck and pushed their lips together again. Alec let out a startled sound which was immediately swallowed by Magnus but after a short fumble, he returned the kiss with fervor. Magnus let Alec get lost in the kiss before he dragged his teeth over his lower lip and bit down.

Alec drew back with a slight hiss, his fingers touching to inspect the damage. Magnus chuckled at his boyfriend’s confusion before pulling him back in.

“Let me kiss it better.”

This time, Magnus could feel Alec let go of the rest of his hesitation and he sighed happily. Sometimes Magnus forgot that there was a 400 hundred year gap of experience between them but Magnus enjoyed guiding his boyfriend whenever they wandered off in a new direction.

When they finally pulled away Magnus noticed a light blush on Alec’s cheeks and smirked.

“Want me to heal it?”

A thoughtful shadow passed his boyfriend’s face before he shook his head.

“It’s good.”

Magnus was relieved. For a moment he had feared that he’d crossed a line, but now he only faked a pout, “That’s not fair. You get to keep my mark, but I can’t keep yours.”

Alec chuckled and fondly shook his head.

“What’s not fair is that you have my sister as an accomplice. She’s my sister, she should be on my side.”

“I’m sorry, darling, but you can’t provide her with weekly shopping trips and the woman needs her fashion,” he smirked.

“I’m quite sure that’s called a bribe,” Alec laughed, pecking his lips briefly.

“I’d say it’s a partnership. She gets her fashion goods and I get my intel on you,” Magnus teased, not quite suppressing the laugh seeing Alec’s scandalized look.

“A match made in Hell,” he groaned.

Magnus didn’t try to argue. He pulled his boyfriend along so they could settle back in the bed that wasn’t nearly as comfortable as Magnus had used to but it would have do.

“Magnus,” Alec started to object.

“No sex, just cuddles,” he laughed pressing himself as close to the warmth as possible.

“I have work,” Alec complained but his hold on Magnus’ waist tightened.

Magnus huffed in annoyance and raised his head to look at the clock on the wall. He was a bit shocked to see how early it was, “It’s barely six. Give me an hour of cuddles then you can go back to saving the world.”

“Deal,” Alec breathed against his temple.

In the end, his promised hour got cut fifteen minutes short by Jace barging into the room.

“Alec, we-” he stopped in his tracks. Magnus wasn’t sure whether it was because he saw them cuddling with Magnus almost on top of his sleeping _parabatai_ , both clothed only in boxers (and a t-shirt in Alec’s case), or because of his murderous glare.

Magnus frowned in disappointment as Alec stirred awake, blinking bleary eyes first at Magnus then at his brother.

“Speak, Jake,” Magnus growled.

The blond Shadowhunter squinted at the wrong name, but continued anyway, ignoring the daggers Magnus was shooting in his direction.

“The kids from yesterday are awake and refusing to speak with anyone except you two.” He smirked, “You must have left quite the impression.”

Any lingering thoughts of sleeping in disappeared at the reminder of the two lost boys and Magnus lifted himself from his boyfriend’s comfortable chest.

“Is somebody with them?” Alec asked, grabbing his black combat pants.

“Yeah, Izzy.”

“Please tell me she’s not making them breakfast,” Alec groaned. Magnus was slightly distracted from the conversation as his Shadowhunter pulled on his thigh holster.

“She’s not. She brought them clothes and is helping them get dressed,” Jace laughed.

“Where did she get the clothes?” Magnus frowned. He’d summoned both boys pajamas last night but had decided to listen to Alec and leave summoning the day clothes for the morning.

“Apparently she got excited and went shopping.”

“Shopping? In the middle of the night?” Alec tied his boots and stood up. Magnus only raised an eyebrow at Alec’s fond look when the Shadowhunter noticed that he had already managed to summon three outfits and was currently in the middle of choosing his daily attire.

“She may have forced Clary to use a portal,” Jace shrugged his shoulders and

Alec sighed. “The kids looked quite happy at her choices.”

“Your sister does have an impeccable sense of fashion,” he agreed, eyeing the clothes he was quite sure would match his mood today. He wasn’t so sure about the light purple pants; too casual. He snapped his fingers and instead a pair of tight leather pants in deep purple appeared on the bed. He hummed in approval and snapped away the rest of the clothes.

“Are you done?” Jace groaned.

Magnus’ only acknowledgment of that ridiculous comment was a raised, disbelieving eyebrow before he turned back to thinking about what kind of jewelry from his vanity would suit the outfit.

“He still has to do make-up,” Alec laughed in response, but Magnus heard nothing but fondness in it. Magnus heard steps and raised his head just in time for Alec to peck his lips, “See you later.”

He hummed in response, his eyes lingering at the bite mark. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Alec had gotten it during training.

“You had to make a diva your boyfriend?” Magnus heard Jace’s whine of annoyance and chuckled at Alec’s response.

“I chose you as my _parabatai_ , didn’t I?”

In all fairness, Magnus did try to hurry it up so he was quite proud when he was out the door in twenty minutes impeccably dressed, with proper accessories and flawless make-up.

He choice of clothing made him feel invincible, and it was a nice change from last the 36 hours when he’d been more or less subjected to bed rest. He chose the tight pants for the sole purpose of teasing his boyfriend and paired it up with a black long sleeved shirt, rolled up at his elbows and an ornamented black vest with purple detailing.

Whatever the day threw at them, he was ready.

He rounded the corner to Alec’s bedroom a smile forming on his lips, hearing Alec talking to his sister.

“That’s impractical! He's indoors!” his boyfriend was arguing just as Magnus knocked lightly and the doorframe, and entered the room. Apparently, the siblings were arguing about a denim jacket, Alec trying to sneakily pry it out of his sister’s hand, to no avail. Isabelle was holding fast.

"It's fashion!" Isabelle groaned, hiding the offending item behind her back.

Magnus’ eyes shifted to the two boys sitting at the end of Alexander’s bed. Max was still holding the plush toy Magnus had gifted him the night before to help them feel more comfortable. Apparently, the small boy had gotten attached to the colorful rabbit.

“Boys, you look stunning!” he commented, avoiding the sibling discussion and kneeling in front of them. “You did a wonderful job, Isabelle,” he winked at the Lightwood and she gave Alec a smug smirk in return.

“Auntie Izzy chose it,” Max answered, looking down at his shirt which read ‘I’m cute’ and his red knee length pants.

He threw a questioning look over his shoulder at Izzy who behind him beamed, “I said they could call me Auntie.”

“I see,” Magnus faced Raphael who was dressed in khaki-colored jeans and a checked shirt. He noticed the pendant hanging around his neck and remembered how the boy made a fuss when Magnus had suggested taking it off for the bath. It seemed like it was a source of comfort for him.

He was startled out of his reverie by small fingers touching his cheek and he looked at Max, “Do you like my make-up, sweetie?”

“I want to be shiny too,” Max nodded. Magnus’ heart squeezed at how cute the boy was and he heard Izzy coo behind him.

“Sure thing, Max,” he snapped his fingers to summon a kid-friendly color palette. “What color do you want?”

The boy looked at him for a moment before he decided, “Purple.”

He closed his eyes and lifted his face up in expectation. The kid seemed to be a no stranger to make-up so Magnus moved to sit on the bed and dabbed a make-up brush in a color similar to what adorned his own eyes and gently started applying to the boy’s skin. All the while he noticed Rafael looking at them with a fond smile.

When he was done, Max’s eyelids were slightly purple and Magnus even added purple to his cheeks, mirroring what he had done to himself. He had felt something like a glamour shift around Max when he had applied the make-up and couldn’t help the pang in his chest at knowing that the boy so small felt the need to be glamoured. He looked at the boy’s pale skin, brown hair and big blue eyes wondering what his warlock mark could look like, but shook his head. It didn’t matter. Instead, he gave the boy a wide smile, admiring his work.

The boy beamed at him before turning to his brother, “You too, Rafe?”

“No way, Max. Make-up’s your thing,” he declined and Max didn’t seem too upset.

“Boys?” they were finally approached by Alec and the slightly more formal feel to his voice wiped the easy-going posture from their shoulders. Alexander kneeled in front of them with a soft look, but Max still tensed and grabbed his hand. Magnus eyed the small boy next to him in surprise but squeezed the small hand in reassurance and motioned for the shadowhunter to speak. “Can you tell us where you lost your papa?”

Unlike yesterday Rafael seemed much more willing to cooperate and though his shoulder seemed to slump at the memory he answered with no real problems.

“Bad men were chasing us,” Rafael’s voice had a tremble in it and he clutched the pendant around his neck. “Papa told me to take Max and run here. I left Papa alone…” A sob shook the boy’s body and Magnus gritted his teeth against the overwhelming urge to gather the boy in his arms. He would have hugged him if he knew that the touch would be welcomed, as it was he didn’t want to scare the boy.

“Did your Papa give you that necklace?” Magnus asked instead, motioning to the piece of jewelry. It was a simple chain with a round embellished pendant at the end.

The boy nodded.

“Can I borrow it?” Magnus asked. “Maybe I can find your Papa.”

He looked aside at Alec’s somber expression. Alec shrugged at him, “It’s worth a try.”

“Please?” Magnus pleaded when Rafael seemed reluctant to give away his father’s memento. “I’ll give it back.”

With a frown, Rafael pulled the neckless off his neck and handed it to him.

“Thank you,” Magnus muttered before closing his palms over the necklace and concentrating on tracking its owner. He frowned as he felt his magic reaching around, searching, before jumping back and settling in his palms. He gritted his teeth, feeling Alec’s large hand on his shoulder, and tried again but the same thing happened. He looked and searched but at the end, he was pulled back by his own magic.

Finally, he opened his eyes and shook his head at Alec’s expectant look. He handed Rafael his necklace trying to ignore how useless he felt at Rafael’s defeated look and Max’ teary pout.

“Okay, we’ll do it the old-fashioned way,” Alec sighed and turned to the boys, but his hand didn’t lose contact with Magnus. It only traveled to the small of his back. “Can you tell me when the bad men started to chase you?”

“The park,” Max answered when Rafael was still looking at his necklace.

“Do you know which park?” Alec leaned forward.

“He means the Central Park,” Rafael finally explained, tuning into the conversation.

“We were playing and Papa said to go home. Max didn’t want to walk and Papa opened the portal, but…” Rafael frowned as if he was missing the words needed to explain.

“Bad portal,” Max helped out his brother, scooting closer to his siblings. “It hurt.”

“Portal hurt you, Max?” Magnus gasped, his eyes widening.

The small boy nodded with a pout. Rafael nodded along with his brother and added, “And we were back in the park.”

“Back?” Magnus frowned. “The same place?”

“Yes,” Rafael grabbed his brother’s hand. “And the bad men started chasing us.”

“I wanna go home,” Max added in a whine, his big blue eyes filling with tears.

“Shhh, we’re going to get you home,” Magnus slowly reached out to cup the younger boy’s cheek.

“Rafael?” Isabelle suddenly spoke from behind them. Magnus had completely forgotten about her being in the room. She held out a tablet and showed it to Rafael, “Was this the place you portalled to?”

Rafael looked up at her with wide eyes before nodding in a rush. Magnus had to lean over Max to see what she showed them and frowned when he saw the place they had gone to the previous morning.

“What are you getting at, Iz?” Alec eyed his sister’s puzzled expression.

“It’s just a theory, but…” she threw a questioning look at Rafael before kneeling down and addressing the boy, “Rafael, can you tell me the date?”

Rafael frowned but he seemed to be thinking before answering, “September 30.”

That was right, Magnus had no idea what Izzy wanted to achieve. The boy was healthy, he had made sure of it. However, she didn’t give up, smiling softly at the boys she asked,

“And the year?”

Rafael looked at her like she was weird but answered her nonetheless, “2023.”

Magnus blinked, holding his breath, before exchanging a confused look with Alec. Izzy seemed weirdly pleased though.

“Are you sure, sweet-pea?” Magnus asked and Rafael looked at him in confusion.

“Is it wrong?” he started to count on his fingers, but Isabelle interrupted.

“No, no, you’re right, Rafael. My friend is sleepy. He forgot the date,” she smiled at the boys and snickered after throwing a teasing look at Magnus.

“Oh,” Rafael joined her in a joyous laugh at Magnus’ supposed mistake.

“Isabelle, dear, a word please?” He stood up to pull her away from children’s earshot, making sure Alec was keeping the kids’ attention elsewhere.

“You’re talking about time travel,” he whispered in urgency.

“I know!” Isabelle answered in excitement.

“It’s not possible. In all my 400 years I have never heard of such thing,” he insisted. “Believe me, many have tried.”

“But it would explain so much!” Izzy fought back.

“No, it does not,” he threw a worried look at the kids. “Rafael could be just… confused.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at his sorry excuse and he sighed in defeat. The woman was stubborn. The whole Lightwood family was.

“Fine, let’s say I’ll…consider it,” he threw a look of worry back at the boys. “That only complicates things with finding their dad. And the possibility of finding him alive shrinks with every passing hour.”

“Why?”

“Because if the blast sites were actually someone trying to travel in time then they put in a lot of time and effort just to get that warlock from the future. I could trace the blast sites that were at least couple of weeks old. Who knows, maybe the warlock had done it even longer. The thing is, if they went through all that effort to get to their father…” Magnus shook his head at the unpleasant thought.

“The boys didn’t see their father get captured,” Izzy shrugged. “Until we know more, let’s just assume that he’s still on the run.”

Magnus sighed seeing Isabelle’s confidence. He had lived way too many years to still have that same level of innocence, but for the sake of the two brother’s sitting on his boyfriend’s bed, he wanted to hope. He wanted to spare them from the pain of being left all alone in the big, wide world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta read by shiny_starlight :)
> 
> Drop me a comment and let me know what you think! They are a good source of motivation :D


	7. Siblings

“-lec?”

“Alec?”

“Lightwood!”

Alec startled, snapping his head to the side so fast he almost gave himself a whiplash. Jace stood at his left with a raised eyebrow and Eric Galdwin, the brother of one of the missing kids, at his side.

“Are you here to throw another punch?” he asked with a frown and a flicker of shame passed the young man’s features.

“No, sir,” the man straightened, hands at parade rest behind his back. “I came here to ask for your permission on joining Wayland’s team.”

Alec did not expect that. He shifted his eyes to Jace who stood there showing almost n interest at all, “Really?”

“As long as he keeps his temper in check, I’m good,” he shrugged.

“Why the change of heart, Galdwin?” he turned back to the man who didn’t shy away from his strong stare.

“I am no good to my brother locked up. It was out of line and I understand that,” Eric answered but it didn’t escape Alec how he didn’t apologize. Alec didn’t blame him though. If he was in Eric’s place he wouldn’t be throwing apologies at the officials responsible for his brother’s disappearance.

“Fine. As long as Jace has no problem with it, consider yourself a part of the team,” he sighed, noting how Galdwin’s shoulder dropped in relief. The kid was probably really desperate to help find his brother.

“Thank you, sir,” he nodded his head slightly before heading off to the other side of the ops room where Jace’s team was hovering over one of the tables deep in discussion.

“How’s it going?” he let his gaze linger at the group of five people Jace had assembled to find the missing Shadowhunters before pushing his chair away from one of the computers and looking up at Jace.

“Slow,” his _parabatai_ growled.

“Anything I can do to help?”

Jace let out a humorless laugh, “Short of a time machine, no, not really.”

Alec nodded, understanding his frustrations and being able to relate, before he cast a quick glance around the room. The Shadowhunters were running around immersed in their work, but there were still too many ears to pick up on the conversation Alec wanted to have with his brother.

He stood up, feeling how stiff his back was from spending most of the morning hunched in a chair.

“Walk with me,” he beckoned Jace with him and together they made their way out of the room.

Alec cast a quick glance to one of the tables where Magnus was sitting with Isabelle and Clary buried in old texts. He looked tired. The three of them had been going over every piece of circumstantial information on time travel they could get their hands on and Alec watched them get more frustrated by the hour. He didn’t want to disrupt his boyfriend form his work but he did worry.

“They are going to be fine,” Jace’s hand landed on his shoulder, his own mismatched color gaze landing on a certain redhead.

“I know,” Alec answered in a slightly defeated tone. “Though, if things don’t slow down, we’re going to run everybody into the ground.”

“Or… we’re going to get a break,” Jace grinned, trying to ease his mind, but they both knew it wasn’t working. They continued their walk in a silence until they reach the Institute’s rooftop and Alec quickly surveyed the area for any other Shadowhunter before facing Jace.

“Talk to me, Jace,” Alec rolled out his shoulders and asked the question burning on his tongue for hours. “You’ve done the groundwork on this. What are the chances?”

“On finding the Shadowhunters?” Jace winced. “You’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t like them missing,” he groaned, brushing a hand through his hair as if it would also brush away the helplessness he was feeling. “I want to know what our chances of finding them are.”

From the way Jace pressed his lips together and looked aside for a moment Alec knew not to expect anything good, but at least he hoped his brother had a more optimistic view than him.

“I haven’t told the team yet, but at this point?” Jace looked at him apologetically. “I’d give it a couple of days before we consider it a retrieval mission.”

Jace moved to look at the city stretching before them and Alec patiently waited behind him. He knew his brother wasn’t done yet.

“There’s just no leads to follow. Their families don’t hold important positions in the Clave and they don’t have the clearance for any sensitive information,” Jace looked at him over his shoulder. “I can’t see a single reason why they would be important enough to kidnap.”

“But important enough to kill?” Alec forced the words out, hating the bile taste they left in his mouth.

“You know as well as anyone that Shadowhunters never lack en- ,” his words died on his tongue as the handle of the door rattled and they both snapped their heads to look at the newcomer.

 A wave of black silky hair got blown back by the wind as Isabelle stepped through the door to the rooftop and Alec sighed in relief.

“Pity party, boys?” She asked with her hands on her hips and her head slightly tilted in amusement.

“You know it,” Jace smirked at her. “Alec was just about to start his waterworks.”

“Hey, I’m still your boss!” Alec growled, but raised his arm for his sister to snuggle against his side and hide from the stinging fall wind. Just like that, his dire mood improved tenfold. They may have a serious situation at hand but even he wasn’t immune to his siblings cracking each other up. It was an often welcome distraction from the monsters and death that was part of their lives on a daily basis.

Jace winked at him and returned to watching the city. Alec looked at both his siblings and a foreign felling of fondness bloomed in his chest. The huff that escaped his lips got Izzy’s attention and she looked up at him in question.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he tried to evade with a shake if his head.

Isabelle squinted at him, “C’mon, what has you smiling like an idiot?”

“Geez, Izzy, thanks,” he groaned but decided on answering anyway. “I just remembered when it used to be just the three of us, you know, and now…” he shrugged.

“We have Clary, Simon, and Magnus,” Izzy looked at him with a strange shine in her eyes.

“And loads of other people we would never have imagined calling friends.”

“Friends is a bit of a stretch,” Alec frowned, though he couldn’t keep up the pretense of annoyance for long. He felt his lips turn up into a smile, and silently lamented the days he was difficult to see through his carefully crafted mask of indifference or annoyance. “I’d say acquaintances.”

“Whatever makes you feel better, brother,” Izzy snickered. “We have surrounded ourselves with some good people.”

“You’re becoming sappy, Iz,” Jace turned his head towards them with a fond smile.

“Says the guy who’s willing to bend to Clary’s every whim,” Izzy taunted and Alec couldn’t hold the burst of laughter that escaped seeing Jace’s annoyed glare.

“Speaking of,” Jace decided to change the subject. “Have you found anything useful about the possible time-travel?”

Alec turned to his sister as she let out a long, exhausted breath and stretched her neck.

“Not really,” Izzy freed herself from his grip and turned to brace herself on the railings. “We’ve been scrolling through every possible source, but so far nothing. Magnus says that the energy necessary for a time-traveling portal is immense. We have no idea where they got that much demonic energy.”

Alec wasn’t surprised at the news but it still didn’t stop the disappointment. He turned to his brother for an opinion but frowned seeing the scowl on his face.

“Jace, what is it?” he asked when the scowl didn’t go away. He exchanged a quick glance at Izzy, but she looked just as puzzled at Jace’s sudden silence as he was. The blond didn’t answer for a moment and Alec thought he might not have heard the question when Jace blinked, returning to the real world.

“What if it’s not demonic energy?” Jace asked, his features turning angry.

“What?” He and Izzy both asked.

“What?”

But Jace again had this questioning look as if he was trying to solve a puzzle and the pieces didn’t fit, “What if we’ve been going about this whole thing wrong?”

“What are you talking about?” Isabelle frowned, but Jace seemed to be so wrapped up in his head he didn’t hear the question and looked at Alec with almost feverish eyes.

“I told you that they aren’t significant enough to be kidnapped, but what if I was wrong?” Jace pulled his hands into fists, his mouth set into a snarl. “What if it didn’t matter _who_ but _what_ got kidnapped?”

“You mean they were taken because they’re Shadowhunters?” Alec tried to follow.

“Exactly,” Jace nodded. “What if the warlock didn’t use demonic power to create the portal but angelic?”

“If they found a way to harness the angelic power from Shadowhunters, it’s possible,” Izzy agreed with a grim tone before looking almost sick. “But three Shadowhunters alone wouldn’t be enough.”

“If what you’re saying is true, the chances they are alive are almost zero,” Alec growled. He felt the pleasant surge of power, knowing that they might have something, but the knowledge that three people on his watch may have already perished left a taste of ash in his mouth.

“Not if the warlock’s not done,” Izzy argued. “We don’t know if they’ve achieved their goal.”

Alec regarded the situation and the conviction rolling off of his siblings in waves. They seemed anxious to further look into this theory.

“Fine,” he allowed the tone of authority seep into his voice. “We’ll need to know if any other Shadowhunters have gone missing in the last couple of weeks. I’ll call the other Institutes.” He looked at his sister, sharing her determination. “As soon as I get the info, I’ll send it your way. Perhaps there’s some correlation between them going missing and the flares going off.”

Isabelle nodded in approval with a shine of pride in her eyes, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it much and turned to his brother.  “Jace take your team to the sites, but be careful. I’ll call Luke. His wolves where the first ones to discover them, maybe they can help.”

Both his siblings turned to leave when he added, “We’re looking for the Shadowhunters, alright? We leave the warlock alone till we have more information. Got it? No stunts, Jace.”

“Why me? Iz gets into as much trouble as me.” Jace whined, but Alec could see that he understood the seriousness. That would have to do. There’s no way one can keep Jace completely out of trouble.

“Really?” Izzy raised an eyebrow but left it at that. “I’ll brief Clary and Magnus,” she explained before disappearing inside followed by Jace.

Alec was left alone on the rooftop with new determination running through his veins. There was nothing better than having a sense of direction in the chaos that seemed to surround them. He allowed himself a second to take a lungful of the city air before he retreated inside and tried to get into the mood for an endless amount diplomatic calls he was about to make. He could only hope to get the assist he needs without much fuss.

He was wrong.

By the time he finished his last call hours later, every drop of politeness in his body had been drained by bureaucratic diplomats who heavily despised any outside help even if it would provide them with much-needed answers. Alec felt like he had to literally pull every missing Shadowhunter’s name from their teeth. And what a list it was!

After making almost 40 calls he now had a list of 34 missing Shadowhunters on his desk. Almost half of them were ex-members of the Circle gone missing from their captivity, so the officials didn’t see a reason to raise alarm over some low-level radicals who probably wasn’t even allowed to change Valentine’s bed sheets, as Head of the Moscow Institute referred to them.

He scribbled three painfully familiar names at the end of the list and groaned. With Clave still trying to reestablish itself after flushing out any traitor left in its ranks, it was frightening how easy it had been for a single warlock to take three dozen Shadowhunters.

If Jace was right, that is. But the feeling of dread sitting low in his stomach made him think that, unfortunately, his brother was correct in his assumptions.

A knock pulled him out from where he had collapsed on his table and he shot to his feet in alarm.

“Easy there,” came a soft, low voice and Alec’s tired brain finally registered his boyfriend standing in the doorway, with eyes wide in worry. And those damn leather pants pulling tight around his ass.

“Magnus,” he sighed, letting his shoulders drop and as soon as the warlock was in reaching distance, he locked his arm around his waist.

“I figured you’d forget about lunch,” Magnus huffed, a tang of annoyance present in his voice.

“Sorry,” Alec pulled back from where he had buried his face in his boyfriend’s neck and leaned in for a chaste kiss.

“It’s quite alright. This whole ordeal is alarming to say the least,” Magnus gifted him with one of those smiles that showed both how worried he actually was and how much he loved him. Alec tried to answer it as best as he could before tightening his hold on Magnus. He noticed the warlock’s gaze shift and followed his line of sight till it landed on the list.

“Is that…”

“Yeah, the list of thirty-seven shadowhunters all around the world that have gone missing in the last two weeks. It could be a reach, but I thought better safe than sorry,” Alec answered as he led them both to the couch and sagged against his lover. Not quite distancing himself from the work, but taking a break.

“You’re right, we wouldn’t want to underestimate this warlock,” Magnus agreed, but it was hard to focus on his words with his nimble fingers carding through Alec’s hair and massaging his scalp. Alec could have easily dozed off if not for the rumbling in his stomach.

“Oh yes,” Magnus laughed and Alec could feel the laughter resonating in his own body. “I did come here to feed you.”

Alec didn’t even manage a response before a spicy aroma filled his nose and he groaned.

“Chinese?” he asked before even opening his eyes.

“And you keep wondering why your dear sister thinks I’m spoiling you,” Magnus pressed a kiss to his temples before reaching for one of the boxes and handing it over to Alec.

“Chow mein?” Alec asked, opening the box, and letting the aroma overwhelm him. “God, I love you,” he groaned before digging in. He hadn’t even noticed how starving he was till the first bite.

“Because I bring you food?” Magnus asked in mock offense, settling on the couch so they could face each other. Alec tried to not look too much at the way the pants pulled tight around the hips. He definitely tried not to think about the fact that his boyfriend probably had nothing underneath those pants.

“You know that’s not true,” Alec smiled when the haze of lust dissipated enough for him to answer, scooting closer so their knees would touch. “You take good care of me,” he added and returned to his meal, trying to hide the blush he felt creeping at his cheeks.

“You’re adorable,” Magnus laughed delightedly, not helping to quell Alec’s embarrassment. He was considering hiding his flaming face in the take-out box when Magnus spoke, his soft words making his head snap up to look his at his boyfriend’s beautiful face.

“You take good care of me too,” Magnus was looking at him with soft eyes and a vulnerable smile and dammit, Alec really did love that face. And not just that face. His body, his sense of style and his kind, kind heart that held enough love for the whole world. Alec’s breath hitched, just a little, as he reflected that he really, really loved this man.

A vulnerable silence enveloped them and Alec felt nervousness settle on his shoulders. It was ridiculous how Magnus never failed to make him feel like the lovesick teenager he’d never had the chance to be. He shifted slightly, mind racing for something to use to re-direct the conversation to something less emotional to give him time to get his equilibrium back.

 “How are the boys?”

“They’re good,” Magnus answered with mirth shining in his eyes as if he knew the exact reason for Alec’s swift change of topic. “Apparently, they are enjoying Simon’s company a lot. There’s something to be said about superhero movies and their ability to bond people together,” Magnus shook his head in amusement.

“Have they said anything that could help us?” Alec asked, remembering the morning’s conversation.

“Unfortunately no. They refuse to say their last name of their father’s name. I didn’t want to pressure them,” Magnus sighed. “I just want them to settle in and feel safe and happy.”

“They deserve some happiness,” Alec agreed.

“They are good kids,” Magnus smiled, but he had a distant look to it. “They give me hope, you know? They are different species, but there’s no animosity, no hidden feelings. I saw Max’s magic spark in excitement when they were watching a movie. Even Simon startled, but Rafael? He just brushed it off like it wasn’t anything special.”

“They’re brothers,” Alec reached for his lover’s hand when he looked away.

“I know, but…” Magnus raised his head and there was a light there Alec had never seen in them before. “If that’s how the future looks…I really want to see it.”

Alec couldn’t hold back. He reached for Magnus’s cheek and, brushing his thumb against it, leaned in for a kiss that was neither brief nor chaste, but there was hope and love to it that made everything feel warm and fuzzy inside. Alec wouldn’t mind drowning in the feeling.

The cozy feeling was cut short, when his office door rattled and a startled looking Izzy rushed inside.

“Ale-,” The end of the word died before it passed her lips as she took the sight of both of them cuddled on the couch, lips barely apart, chest heaving and cheeks flushed. “Geez, sorry guys.”

“Izzy,” Alec exhaled, trying to calm his racing heart and ignore the way Magnus’s fingers were drawing patterns on his thigh. The panicked look on Izzy’s face did well to direct his thoughts away from his stunning boyfriend.

“Iz? What’s wrong?”

His sister’s apologetic look did nothing to ease his nerves. Alec could feel nervous energy pulsing through his veins.

“Iz, what is it?” he started to fear the worst when Isabelle still failed to answer.

“Jace found a body,” she finally spoke.

Alec barely felt the calming squeeze on his thigh before he got up from the sofa trying not to show the cold fear that shook his bones. He hadn’t thought Jace would make much progress in the four hours he was gone, definitely not finding a body, but now that things seemed moving forward he dreaded what they’ll eventually find at the end of the road.

“Where’s the body?” he asked, grabbing his stele from his desk and already heading for the door. A brief look at Magnus showed the warlock’s shoulder’s drop in disappointment, but he didn’t have time to address it at the moment.

“It’s down in the examination room,” Izzy answered, her heels clicking against the floor as she tried to keep up with his longer strides.

“Do we have an ID?” he asked, keeping up his pace until they reached the elevator. He noticed Izzy hesitating again and groaned, “Izzy, I don’t have time for you trying to protect my feelings.”

“Sofia Ravenhill,” Isabelle sighed and Alec’s stomach dropped. The elevator door opened and he was greeted by Jace’s grim expression.

“Details,” he ordered making his way to the examination room and the body lying under a white sheet on the table.

“Maia found her,” Jace explained, but when Alec raised a questioning eyebrow he added.

“Luke sent her to help us. She sniffed out a trail from Central Park to a trash container. The body was wrapped in an old carpet.”

Alec nodded in approval and took a deep breath before peeling the white sheet off of the body. He winced at the sight. The skin was ashen and there was a web of unnaturally blue veins all over her body that made a stark complex to her otherwise bare skin. Her runes had all faded, leaving only white scars and if Alec wouldn’t have known better he’d say she had starved to death, her bones protruding from her skin as if she had never had a good meal in her life. The life seemed to have been sucked out of her and Alec had trouble recognized the Shadowhunter he once knew.

He put the sheet back on and squeezed his eyes shut.

“The cause of death?” he asked, though he was sure of the answer anyway.

“A warlock did this,” a voice came from behind them and Alec swirled around to see Magnus standing with his fists pulled tight, an occasional spark escaping his control.

“How long have you been here?” Alec sighed.

“Long enough,” Magnus growled out.

“You shouldn’t-” Alec didn’t want Magnus to be forced to go against one of his kind. He didn’t want to Magnus to see the proof that one of his kind could be a monster.

“I’m the most qualified for this, Alexander,” Magnus took off his jacket and started rolling his sleeves up. “I appreciate the effort, dear, but I’m the High Warlock and I’m responsible for the warlocks in this city,” he gave him a stern look. “I will not let sit by and let one of my kind tarnish the name of warlocks.”

“He’s right. The protocol is to call in the resident High Warlock anyway,” Jace agreed. “We should let him and Izzy start on the autopsy.”

He looked at his sister who nodded in reassurance.

“We’ll let you know as soon as we’re done.”

“Fine,” he receded. He exchanged a reaffirming look with Magnus before facing Jace. “Do the Ravenhills know?”

“Not yet,” Jace sighed. “But I wouldn’t count on it for too long.”

“We’ll keep it quiet till Izzy and Magnus are done,” Alec ordered. “Make sure nobody from your team utters a single syllable.”

“You know it’s not going to work for too long,” Jace argued.

“Let’s just give them a couple of hours,” Alec looked back at his sister and Magnus starting their work. “We’ll deal with the rest afterward.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I didn't do this alone, so a shoutout to shiny_starlight for being my beta.
> 
> Also, let me know what you think!!!
> 
> And in case somebody is bummed about not seeing much of the boys I can promise, next chapter will bring some Rafael and Max drama!


	8. A monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Garb your napkins, people, we're diving headfirst into the drama. :D
> 
> Beta read by shiny_starlight
> 
> Warning: Those of you who hate spoilers, I've revealed the title of the next chapter at the endnotes(just because I'm feeling slightly evil today) so If you want to be blissfully oblivious, do not read the endnotes :P

Magnus had never, in the short time since he’s started dating Alexander, felt as conflicted as did now as he headed for the Head of the Institute’s office. He eyed the bleak yellow folder in his hands that contained essentially all that remained of a once young and promising Shadowhunter’s life. Just dark inky lines on a paper, results of chemical tests and magical prodding. He felt the shift in energy as soon as the elevator’s door opened and he stepped out into the main level of the institute.

_“So they already know”_ , he blew out a breath under his nose.

It wasn’t the first time in his life that he’d been looked upon with a mixture of fear and disgust, and even though it wasn’t as intense as it probably would have been if anyone else but his boyfriend would’ve been their boss, it still didn’t escape his attention. He raised his head high and moved forward as he had done so many times before, silently appreciating that some Shadowhunters seemed to look questioning and doubtful rather than simply openly hostile. It was a promising change but, as these things tend to go, the ones that actually dared to show uncertainty at whatever claim had been spread about Warlock-Kind were few in number and scattered around the room’s farthest corners. The bullies were always the ones up front.

The hallways were less dramatic and, whilst he was thankful that nobody actually stopped to stare at him, he would have appreciated a second look. His outfit was on point today, if he did say so himself, and it was always better to be stared at for his amazing fashion sense and style, rather than the demon blood running through his veins.

When he finally reached Alec’s office door, it was closed and he could hear voices behind the dark panels. Any other time, he would walk in without a care in the world, but he had a suspicion his lover was currently dealing with the Ravenhills and even he knew that barging in with their dead daughter’s autopsy results would not end well for any of them.

He had no intention of listening in and intruding on their privacy (most of all because Alexander would tell him about it eventually anyway) but the conversation was getting louder, and he heard the Ravenhill matriarch’s distressed shout with no problem.

“And you allow one of their kind in the Institute?” she wailed. “If he’s as strong as people say, he could have been the one to do it!”

“Mrs. Ravenhill, I would advise against such insinuations,” Alec’s voice rose in a stern tone and Magnus could only pinch the bridge of his nose hearing first-hand how unpleasant was the situation his lover had to deal with.

“But you said it yourself, the warlock responsible is extremely powerful and he is the High Warlock.” This time, a rougher male voice spoke up and Magnus guessed that it was probably the husband of Mrs. Ravenhill.

“And Mr. Bane has proved to be an immeasurable ally in this ongoing investigation. As have the New York pack.”

“Yes. But our little girl was not mauled to death, was she?” Magnus winced hearing the man growl in response. It didn’t matter what Alec said, Magnus feared that they had already made up their mind.

“I am still waiting on autopsy results, we cannot be sure of anything at this moment,” Alec argued and Magnus could only admire his lover’s perseverance. He kept being surprised at how suitable a leader’s role was for Alec. He could see the determination and strive to do better flow like a strong current within him. It was a formidable force but at the same time, not nearly as destructive as one would think. Alec Lightwood could keep his attitude cool and reserved, his head clear and his arguments compelling as long as nobody came at him and his family personally. There was a line between Alec: The Leader and Alec: The Family Man.

And, though he carried out both responsibilities with the same sense of commitment, there was something primal and intense when it came to his family. And, deep within his hearts furthest corners, Magnus hoped that that family also included him.

“An autopsy of which Magnus Bane has full access,” the same growl from before disrupted his thoughts and Magnus noticed brief orange sparks dart around the edges of the report. He didn’t mind the accusations. He was used to them, had developed walls against words like this over centuries of encounters but he did not appreciate Alec having to deal with his problems as well.

“I do not appreciate the blind accusations you’re throwing around,” Alec’s voice, though still polite and reserved, had gained an edge to it that showed he was close to losing his patience.

The Ravenhills probably hadn’t even noticed the change, but Magnus did.

“Maybe sleeping in the enemy’s bed has made you the blind one,” the same rough voice taunted, and that was it. Magnus had heard enough. Just as he was about to move and open the door, it sprang open and a furious looking man stormed out, followed by a woman whose tear marks did not match the hate he saw in her eyes.

The man’s eyes widened as his gaze landed on him before his face morphed into a snarl of disgust.

“Pff, typical,” he didn’t seem to want to engage in further unpleasantries and just marched down the corridor before Magnus even remembered the spell of how to turn someone into a piece of furniture.

He turned his gaze to look inside the office and saw Alec standing in front of his table with barely contained fury.

“How much did you hear?” he asked as Magnus stepped inside and shut the door, frowning at the edge Alec’s voice still possessed.

“It’s nothing new,” he tried to appease the younger man, putting the report on the table and reaching to touch.

“But not in my Institute,” Alec growled making a step forward so Magnus could wrap his hands around his waist.

“Change doesn’t happen overnight, Angel,” he smiled sadly. HE heart ached for his boyfriend when he saw the disappointed look still gracing his beautiful features. “It’s slow. One person at a time. You won’t be able to change everybody.”

“I should just throw them out,” he growled, and Magnus leaned in to kiss that hard line of lips, pulling back only when Alec’s shoulders relaxed and he got a kiss in return.

“We both know you won’t do that,” he smiled slightly before stepping out of that comfortable hold and reached for the report. “I come bearing news,” he handed over the folder and stepped away to take a seat at the couch, smiling as he remembered their lunch.

Alec followed his movements with a frown, ignoring the folder for a moment, “Why do you dismiss it so easily?”

“Is there really any other option?” he crossed his legs and looked up at his love, feeling the gap in their experience and age create a distance of maturity he couldn’t help but hate. Just another reminder of his immortality. Of course, in some ways, Alec was more mature than him but Magnus could only hope Alec would not get as accustomed to disdain and distrust of other people as he had.

“It’s not okay,” Alec argued and Magnus fell more in love with him every time the man challenged the world to be a better place. It made him want to challenge himself as well.

“That’s why I have you,” he rested his cheek against his palm and motioned for his lover to finally read the report.

With a short, intimate glance between them, he finally opened a folder and rested his hip against the edge of the table as his eyes skimmed over the paper. Magnus saw the frown once again form on that beautiful face and deepen as he turned pages one after another. There wasn’t much to report but it was enough to get a glimpse of what had happened.

“She was drained?” the Shadowhunter raised his eyes for confirmation.

Magnus nodded with a sigh, “Stripped of everything that made her angel blood… well…angelic.”

“Is there a spell like that?” Alec paled and Magnus noticed as his eyes ran over his own runes.

“None I know of, but if…” he stopped. The conversation with Ravenhill’s echoed in his head as he looked at Alec with weariness.

“If what?” Alec stepped forward. Magnus had to divert his gaze and lower his voice as he answered.

“If I wanted to create a spell that can strip Nephilim of their angelic source...” he gulped. “I’d know where to start.”

“Where?” Alec sat next to him, but instead of answering, Magnus’ attention was completely distracted by the open look on his lover face. The soft, loving gaze he was so familiar with, the warm hand that enveloped his, the way Alec’s entire body was turned towards his own, completely open and vulnerable. Alec as a good man, plain and simple. Much too good for him, Angelic blood aside. He had a good heart and an open soul, and any man would count himself the most fortunate man in the galaxy to be able to call Alexander Lightwood his.

Sometimes, Magnus wondered what he had done in his life to deserve that honor.

“What?” Alec’s brown furrowed and Magnus couldn’t help the small chuckle.

“It’s nothing, just the conversation with the Ravenhills was kind of… you know… insinuating.”

“Magnus!” The shock on Alec’s face was almost comical. “I would never. NEVER.”

“I know. Don’t worry, love,” he reached to cover Alec’s hand with his. “Besides, it would take years for the spell to come out perfect.”

Alec was still looking at him questioningly but he squeezed his hand, “So, the warlock was probably preparing for this for a while.”

“Most likely,” Magnus agreed, shuffling closer so their thighs were pressed together and gazed distantly at the colored glass behind Alec’s office table.

“This is all one huge mess,” Alec groaned and Magnus hummed in agreement.

“We have 37 missing shadowhunters. The last three were from New York. There are currently two possibly time-travelling boys occupying your room and we’ve had portals, possibly time travelling portals, popping up around the city for the last two weeks or so. We also have Sofia Ravenhill stripped of all her angelic power,” he mused to himself out loud. “Our dear Isabelle seems right. The warlock is clearly using Shadowhunters to harvest their energy for time-travel.”

“Magnus?” he was disrupted from his daze as Alec shifted to face him. He frowned at his lover’s careful tone.

“Hmm?”

“It’s been how long since we found the portal in Central Park?”

He looked at the clock showing past midnight, “Around 48 hours. What are you getting at?”

“It was barely a day between the portals you investigated and the big one in Central Park. Could it be that they’ve stopped happening because the warlock got what they were after?”

“You mean Rafael’s and Max’s father,” Magnus added.

“Yeah. If all those Shadowhunters were indeed used as energy sources for a time-traveling portal to get their father here…”

“The warlock knew what they were after,” Magnus finished with a sigh. “To get a single person from five years in the future…” He looked at Alec with a frown. “Am I the only one who feels like this is awfully personal?”

Alec nodded, “The warlock is probably a time traveler as well.”

“In that case, if we want any hope at finding any possible survivors, we need the boys to tell their father’s name. At least then we could narrow down the warlocks with a vendetta against the man,” Magnus sighed. “The boys have been pretty adamant about keeping it a secret, though.”

“They might not have a choice.”

* * *

 

He really did not like what he was about to do and judging from the dark look on Alec’s face, neither did he.

Simon had taken upon himself to look after the two boys, but it was already noon and they couldn’t delay the conversation any longer. They had decided to allow the boys a somewhat peaceful morning, hoping that they’d feel safe enough to open up to them after having a couple of days to settle down, but it still felt too soon.

“Ready?” Magnus asked as they stopped in front of Alec’s room.

Alec shook his head. “Not really,” he reached for the doorknob.

“Uhh… hi, guys,” Simon's head popped into their field of vision as soon as the door opened. Magnus raised an eyebrow at the clearly out of breath vampire as he stood in the doorway, preventing their entry. He examined the boy’s disheveled state, mildly impressed at his panting especially considering that, as a vampire, Simon had no breath. A remnant of his mortal life, Magnus surmised and started to move forward. But Simon didn’t move.

“Simon,” he warned, trying to look around the man’s shoulder, but the vampire swiftly blocked the view.

“What the hell, Simon?” Alec growled. “Let us in,” he said pushing past him and Magnus followed Alec into the room.

“Uhh, so the thing is…” the young vampire let out a nervous laugh as he was pushed aside, scratching the back of his head.

“Where are the boys, Simon?” Magnus sighed exasperated as he looked upon the clearly empty room. He could see the leftovers of a pillow fort and a stack of movies but the two brothers were clearly not present.

“I don’t… don’t know?” the babysitter stuttered.

“Is that a question?” Magnus sighed noticing how Simon’s eyes flickered briefly between him and Alec. He looked sideways only to see Alec in a full-on glower at the poor boy.

 “No, of course not,” Simon turned back to him. “It’s just that Max suddenly needed the bathroom and Rafael wanted to go with and then Clary called about a favor for… you know… the investigation and yeah… I kinda got distracted and then I remembered they hadn’t come back and they weren’t in the bathroom so… I don’t know,” he rambled till he was out of air and then loudly gulped in oxygen.

“Can he not glare, please?” Simon almost squeaked as he motioned in Alec’s general direction.

“Darling, I know it’s tempting, but you can’t use Simon as a target practice,” he chuckled as Alec still hadn’t eased up on his glare.

Simon nodded frantically, “Yes, please.”

Alec squinted at the vampire. “Let’s just go look for them. I’ll deal with the vampire afterwards.”

“Uhh? Technically, Rafael has authority over me so…  you know-” Simon turned to follow him in the hallway.

“Shut up, Simon!” Alec groaned picking up a brisk pace as they set out to look for the boys. Magnus wordlessly patted Simon’s shoulder before setting out to search.

Turned out they didn’t have to go look far. They had only checked the second room when a scream from somewhere in the Institute made the blood freeze in his veins.

“MONSTER!”

The shrill noise was too high and too emotional to come from an adult and the realization of it caused magic to pump through Magnus’ veins uncontrollably fast. He followed Alexander as the man rounded corner after a corner, noticing how the crowd grew thicker and soon enough they were forced to stop completely as a wall of people obstructed their way.

“Move!” Alec’s voice gained its authoritative tone and people immediately parted. He made out Jace’s blond mop of hair where he stood in the center of the commotion, leaning forward with his palms open in a calming fashion as he tried to calm whoever was sobbing in the corner. He shot Alec a helpless look as they approached before retreating to help Isabelle where she and Clary were trying to hold back the curious crowd. Magnus didn’t miss Ravenhils being a part of the mass but the thought didn’t occupy his mind for long as he noticed the source of the sobs.

Little Max was crouched in the corner of the hallway, head covered by his arms as his shoulders trembled in big uncontrollable sobs. Rafael stood protectively in front of him, a small pocket knife pointing at everyone who dared to step closer and a glare backing up his threat.

He may have tried to look scary but all Magnus saw was how much the older boy’s hand trembled as he waived the knife around.

“Monster!” the voice from before shouted again. This time laced less with fear and more hatred, confidence almost. Magnus whirled around to see the Ravenhill woman holding the hand of a boy who couldn’t have been more than twelve as he pointed an accusing finger at Max.

Max flinched where he had managed to pull himself in a small ball and a whine reached Magnus’ ears. He felt darkness spread in his chest at the realization and a protective fury clouding his mind in a way that left him almost breathless.

“I’m not… I’m not a monster,” the boy sobbed. “Not… monster.”

Rafael’s response was much more aggressive as he let out an almost animalist yell and took a half step closer. He froze as soon as he saw the Ravenhill mother step in front of her son.

Magnus moved without a thought.

“Take one step closer and I’ll show you what a real monster looks like,” Magnus growled, well aware of how dark his voice sounded and how he had allowed his glamour to slip. He was menacing, he knew it, but all he could focus on was the hiccups of the small warlock child behind him as he wailed and those sounds seemed to feed the monster in his chest.

“Lightwood,” a commanding voice cut through his threat. “I suggest you get Mr. Bane under control,” the father of Ravenhill family addressed Alec as he pulled his wife and son closer.

“You self-absorbed-”

“Mr. Ravenhill,” Alec interrupted what would have been a very vile curse and moved to step between Magnus and the Shadowhunter family. In the back of his mind, Magnus knew that it was probably for the best, but in his agitated state he hated how calmly Alec addressed the family who had no problem at looking down at his kind like some animal filth.

“Please return to your quarters,” Alec looked the man straight in the eye before addressing everyone. “All of you, return to your work.”

“So that’s it?” Mrs. Ravenhill bristled. “You’re just going to abandon your kind and instead protect that… that thing?”

“That thing, as you refer to it, is a three-year-old child!” Alec growled in warning.

“And his kind killed my baby daughter!” the woman screamed at Alec.

Magnus gritted his teeth at the clear accusation as the woman eyed him with hatred and then had the nerve to direct the same glare at both boys behind him.

“I do not have to listen to this bigotry,” he spat as he spun around to face the boys, noticing as Rafael was now holding his brother and shielding him as much as possible from the rest of the world with his own small body.

From the corner of his eye he saw Mrs. Ravenhill move forward but before he even had a chance to react, Jace stepped in front of her, blocking her way to Magnus. He saw as Clary and Simon joined him in dissipating the crowd while Alec was busy trying to guide his conversation with the Ravenhills in a more civilized direction.

Magnus snapped his fingers to tune out the accusations Ravenhills kept tossing at Alec and let his shoulders drop in relief as Rafael made eye contact with him.

“Hey, sweet-peas,” he whispered, kneeling on the floor. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

He saw Rafael open his mouth to respond, his eyes still feverishly eying the surroundings behind Magnus, but Max shook his head where he was hiding and Rafael just lowered his head. “No,” he mumbled and Magnus couldn’t suppress a sigh of disappointment.

He had a hunch that this all had something to do with Max’s glamour as that was usually the biggest reason for name-calling but he didn’t press further.

“Then how about a hug?” he offered instead, remembering how Max had fought for a hug when they first met. He didn’t expect the boys to feel so safe around him to take up the offer so when Max actually moved forward with a hiccupping nod, Magnus barely managed to open his arms.

He gaped as the boy crawled into his lap and moved his arms around his necks as if he already knew what would be the best place for him.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he hugged the small child close and rubbed his small back to ease his hiccups.

He was so focused on calming the distressed little warlock he almost didn’t notice when Rafael pulled at his sleeve. He knitted his brows together as he raised his arm, not really understanding what Rafael was asking, but as the boy settled at his other side he silently wrapped the arm around him and squeezed them both closer.

“It’s okay, everything’s okay,” he whispered in their hair. “The mean people will not come again. I promise.”

As he felt Rafael nod, Magnus had to refrain from the urge to kiss the top of his head. Had to remind himself that these were someone else’s sons, that they had a family of their own.

He had no idea how long he held them both while swaying back and forth but finally he heard familiar steps approach them.

“Magnus?” Alec asked in a tentative voice as if afraid to break the spell.

Magnus looked down to where Max had managed to fall asleep with his eyes puffy red and fingers clutched in Magnus’ jacket and then to the other side where Rafael also looked slightly dazed.

“I do not want those people near these boys,” he threatened in a low voice.

Alec sighed behind him.

“Magnus. You said it yourself, I can’t just banish them.”

“This is not up for a debate. The only reason I am not portalling them back to the loft is because I am painfully aware the Clave would never allow a child Shadowhunter to live under a Downworlder’s care, even temporarily, and they just now settled in here.”

“I’m not the bad guy here, Magnus,” Alec whispered in what sounded like a disappointment.

“Tell that to the three-year-old who was just called a monster,” he answered sharply.

There was no response and as he heard Alec walking away he lowered his head in defeat. It wasn’t Alec’s fault, he knew that, but his mind was exhausted as the same words kept echoing in his brain. Except one was uttered only minutes ago in that very hallway while the other was from a long, long time ago in Indonesia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Was it a yay or nay? Thoughts?  
> Thank you for stopping by and reading!
> 
>  
> 
> P.s (SPOILER) Tittle for the next chapter - "Fathers and sons".


	9. Fathers and sons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!!!
> 
> Beta read by shiny_starlight. :)

Alec was at a loss. He had no idea how he ended up in the middle of the confrontation between the Ravenhills and Magnus. There was no way he could throw the Ravenhills out without having to face some sort of retaliation from the Calve, but he also had no intention of siding with the family in blaming every warlock they come upon for their daughter’s death.

The problem remained though, and he was growing more annoyed with it by the second. He’d run through it all in his mind a dozen times, but he still had no idea how they got to the point where there was this cold space between him and Magnus. Everything had been fine the previous morning but ever since the incident in the hallway, Magnus refused to even talk to him. Every time he tried to overcome the sudden gap between them, Magnus met him a with hostility that was so uncharacteristic of him that it left Alec not only helpless but also awfully confused.

“Sulking, bro?” a voice reached his ears and he looked up from where he had been blankly staring at the reports to see his sister; she walked into his office and closed the door behind her.

“Hi,” he let his head drop back in his palm as Izzy settled on the couch opposite of him.

“Magnus still with Rafael and Max?” she asked, stretching down the hem of her tight red dress where it had ridden almost too high when she sat down.

Alec nodded.

“He spent all of yesterday with them and apparently Max was having nightmares so he spent the night with them as well.”

“I see his absence doesn’t do you any favors, does it?” she smirked and Alec frowned in confusion. “The dark circles, Alec,” she added, pointing to her own eyes in amusement.

 Alec barely suppressed the urge to growl at her.

“It’s not so much his absence that gets to me but the attitude,” he defended himself. He wasn’t quite ready to admit how Magnus had become a crucial part of him getting a good night’s sleep.         

“There’s probably a good reason as to why he got so upset,” she fiddled with her bracelet absentmindedly as she spoke. Alec noticed her nail polish was slightly chipped; she probably hadn’t had time to apply it in all the fuss that’s been going on. “You just have to give him some time.”

Oh, Alec knew there was a reason for it. Magnus never did anything without a reason. The problem was, that the last 24 hours allowed him to come to his own conclusions and he was pretty sure Magnus was once again stuck in his own childhood memories. He looked at Isabelle with a fond look, having half a mind to ask for her opinion, but it didn’t feel right to share Magnus’ past with her (even if she knew almost everything else about their relationship). It felt personal. Something he knew only because he had earned Magnus’ trust. Maybe at some point Magnus would share it with her as well, but for now, Alec felt strangely protective of Magnus and his secrets.

“I understand him being protective,” he sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing hands over his face to ease the tiredness in his eyes. “I just don’t like that he’s acting like I’m the bad guy. I was just as pissed at the Ravenhills as he was, bu-”

“You can’t just go ahead and throw them out,” Izzy finished for him. He had long since gotten over how in tune she was with how his brain worked, and it no longer surprised him. Instead, it had made a warm part in his chest glow the first time he’d realized that, despite being a very different person compared to him, she _got_ him. She knew her siblings well, and loved them anyway. It was her talent. That, and some very disturbing coercion technics she liked to use on Jace when she wanted to force him into doing something for her.

He hummed in agreement. Okay, more like groaned, he really did want to throw Ravenhills out. His life would be much easier without them. But, every time he went to sign the order, he remembered how much potential he had seen in Sofia Ravenhill, how dedicated and openminded she had been. He owed the girl to show her parents the same respect she had shown him, even if he had no idea how such narrowminded people managed to raise such an approachable and curious girl.

He shook his head trying to focus back on the conversation.

“I just want to be there for him… _them_. But he won’t let me,” he huffed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Why is it always so hard to fix things?”

He looked at his sibling, frowning in confusion when Izzy stood up instead of giving him a straight answer. He followed her movements with his eyes as she rounded the desk and leaned back against the edge of his table to look at him with strangely sad eyes.

“What?” he leaned back to look at her.

“Alec,” she smiled fondly at him. “I know you always want to fix things and take responsibility, but…” she shrugged helplessly. “Not everything is your fault.” Her gaze fixed on the colored glass of his office window as she continued to speak, “Relationships are like a two-way street. Magnus can make mistakes as well. I don’t see anything wrong with waiting a bit for Magnus to come around.” She looked at him in amusement, “Don’t get me wrong, you know I love Magnus.”

Alec regarded her silently for a minute before sighing and gently nudging her in the hip.

“You’re awfully smart, Isabelle Lightwood,” he huffed, fully aware that his life would be a lot harder if he didn’t have someone like her to rely on. Even if she did tease him mercilessly about his romantic life.

Isabelle raised a teasing eyebrow at him. “Well, my brother’s kind of helpless at relationships,” she responded, her eyes shining with mirth.

“He can’t be that bad,” Alec shook his head in amusement. In some ways, his sister was very predictable. “He did manage to get a High Warlock for a boyfriend.”

The laughter that escaped Izzy’s lips was both exhilarating and refreshing. Like a soft spring rain falling from the treetops. “Lucky coincidence,” she teased and though Alec responded with a fake frown it dawned on him that it really was a coincidence.

If not for Jace running into Clary and then her leading them to Magnus, Alec might have never met the man he was now lucky to call his boyfriend. He knew himself well enough to know that the old him would have never approached a grand man like Magnus.

So, yes. It was a lucky coincidence.

He saw Izzy raise an eyebrow at his sudden silence and the no doubt dawning look or realization on his face, but the familiar shrieking alarm echoed through the halls before she could part her lips. Any conversation got forgotten as they simultaneously sprang into action.

They both jumped up straight and rushed out of his office without so much as exchanging a glance. The hallway seemed to come alive with confused Shadowhunters filling the halls and making their way towards the commotion, but neither of them stopped to answer their questions. As they reached the ops room Jace was already there, strapping a blade to his thigh.

“Status?” Alec approached him.

“Our sensors picked up an energy spike,” he explained, motioning with his head towards the monitors with red signs flashing across their displays. Alec let his eyes scan over the map, noting the spike’s location even as he started mentally cataloging the weapons he had on hand right there and then.

“It’s Central Park again,” he said before disabling the alarm.

“Yeah, and it’s at least as big as the last one,” Jace nodded. “I’m taking my team and-”

“No,” Alec interrupted before Jace could manage to signal his team. “Somebody on your team can’t keep his mouth shut. You, Iz, me and Fray are going.”

Jace looked at him and then back at the Shadowhunter’s awaiting his orders.

 

“Ok,” he agreed and then looked behind Alec. “You ready?”

Alec turned to see both Clary and Izzy geared up and ready to go and gave them an approving nod.

“I have to get my bow. I’ll meet you at the door,” he said, passing them both and picking up the pace back to his office.

His more administrative duties recently had made it more comfortable to not carry weapons around with him in the Institute, (though he always had his Stele and Angel Blade strapped to his thigh) now he cursed himself for having left his quiver and bow behind.

He rounded a corner silently fuming for every second of delay as he stormed into his office.

And froze.

Right in front of him stood Magnus with his bow and quiver in each hand and as he extended the weapons towards him Alec hesitated slightly in accepting them.

“Thanks,” he muttered, hating the awkwardness and the timing of finally having Magnus within his reach to set things straight. “Uh, sorry, I have to-” he tried to explain while turning back the way came.

“I’m coming with,” Magnus stated sharply, efficiently cutting Alec off.

The fierce look in Magnus’ eyes was enough to forestall his argument before he could even make it. Magnus was amazing: powerful, talented and smart. He could take care of himself, especially with Alec as the backup. Besides, he didn’t want to further strain things between them, nor did he had time for it.

And also… well… he missed him.

“Fine, let’s go.”

They met up with the rest of the group outside. Jace and the girls were geared up and had their game faces on. There was a reason he trusted them above any others: two minutes notice and they were loaded for bear, and their thoughts and emotions focused and sharp for the mission.

“Our goal is to investigate the source and see if somebody has come through the portal. DO NOT engage with the warlock, we do not know how powerful he may be and if he’s holding Rafael and Max’s father captive. Watch each other’s six. Jace and I will take the lead,” he ordered looking at each team member separately. “Also, remember the aftereffects of the portal. I do not want anyone physically compromised, clear?”

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

“Clear.”

Izzy, Jace, and Clary acknowledged in unison. Satisfied with the response. Alec turned to Magnus who nodded sharply before swiftly moving his right hand and snapping a portal into existence.

“Shall we?” he said, ever the epitome of elegance.

“On me,” Jace ordered stepping through the portal without hesitating and Alec followed.

It was the familiar sense of brief disorientation before they landed in the Central Park. They took in their surroundings, watching out for any threats while waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.

“Ok, what do you need?” he turned to Jace as the blond wordlessly pulled aside his leather jacket and pulled the shirt up.

“The usual,” Jace answered and Alec immediately set to work, pulling out his stele and locating the familiar runes before going over them and refreshing them to their inky blackness.

_Strength. Awareness. Flexibility. Soundless. Stamina. Surefooted. Precision._

Jace didn’t even gasp at the feeling that had become as familiar as breathing to them. When Alec was finished Jace returned the favor and he took a deep breath at feeling the power rush through his veins. Alec spared everybody a brief look (lingering at Magnus a second longer than strictly necessary) before all as one they moved out.

They kept close guard of their surroundings as they made their way to the origin of the portal. It was the exact same spot as the one three days ago and as they closed in the feeling of nausea once again crept up.

“Stop,” he whispered and turned to look at Jace. “We can’t go further without getting caught up in the aftereffects making us sick.”

“An Iratze?” Jace suggested and Alec looked back at the girls who shrugged in uncertainty.

“It’s worth a try,” he said, taking out his stele again and drawing the rune on his _parabatai_.

The blond rolled out his shoulders, “Ok. Let’s see.”

He took a cautious step forward, stopped and then took another one. Alec watched in worry as he advanced, simultaneously feeling a movement to his left as Magnus moved to stand next to him.

“Well?” Alec lost his patience as Jace kept moving forward without explanation.

When he finally reached the spot with clear scorch marks in the earth Jace turned around, “It’s not perfect. I still feel a bit woozy, but it works.”

With a sharp nod Alec moved forward, before an airy touch to the back of his palm caught his attention and he turned to look at Magnus. He looked focused and alert, but Alec knew his warlock well enough to see the worry etched into his furrowed brows.

“Stay back, I’ll be fine,” he whispered, reaching out and squeezing Magnus’s fingers for a second before he turned to join the girls and his _parabatai._

As he reached the site, Alec recognized what not only seemed like scorch marks but also several footprints in the earth.

“It seems like somebody went through,” he looked around himself.

“Yeah, I can identify at least five footprints,” Izzy announced from where she was crouching down. “They went north.”

“They could be from the same time as the boys. Somebody could be coming to look for them,” Clary mussed.

Alec shook his head, “The warlock is most likely from the future as well. We can’t yet assume whether they are a friend or a foe.”

“Hey,” Magnus called out from where he was scanning the surroundings but avoiding the portal’s area. Alec moved towards him as he picked up something from the ground and was examining it.

“What is it?” he leaned forward to see a petite gold ring in his palm.

Magnus inclined his head, “Could be from our guests. I could try tracking it.”

“Do it,” Alec nodded and turned to call the rest of the team back.

Magnus covered the ring with his hands and closed his eyes, his brow furrowed in concentration as blue sparks enveloped his hands in misty waves.

Alec was watching him closely, noticing how his eyes were slightly twitching before Magnus suddenly opened them and Alec was met with feverish brown orbs.

“I got them, they are only a couple of blocks ahead of us,” he explained.

“We can catch up with them if we portal there,” Jace suggested and Magnus immediately swirled his hand in agreement, creating the golden mass of the portal.

“Weapons out, stay on guard,” Jace took the lead and just like before, Alec followed him through.

He landed on a rooftop of a building and it only took him a moment to notice a group of five on the roof of the building next to theirs.

And they noticed their arrival as well.

In a matter of seconds, he saw the small group take their fighting stance, the blades shining in the cloudy midday as they were activated. Alec didn’t hesitate to draw an arrow, noticing that the opposing party had an archer in their midst as well.

“Drop your weapons,” he hollered, feeling Magnus moving to stand next to him again, with Jace flanking him from the other side.

“You first,” came a response from the other rooftop. Alec couldn’t make out their faces from where they were hidden under their hoods but he wanted to avoid a confrontation between them if possible. He lowered his aim slightly to appear less threatening.

“You’re in the jurisdiction of the New York Institute,” Alec argued back. “As the Head of the Institute, I order you to drop your weapons.”

He saw looks being exchanged between the strangers and a pregnant pause before they spoke again.

“Alec Lightwood?” the question was uttered in what almost sounded like disbelief.

Jace bristled next to him in a hushed voice, “How the hell do they know you?”

“My identity’s not exactly a secret. Maybe they’ve heard of me,” he guessed, lowering his bow and putting the arrow back into the quiver. Jace shifted slightly in front of him, just in case, as he answered.

“That’s right. Who am I speaking to?”

The other party exchanged glances again before a figure stepped out in front. Their archer.

“My name is…Eric,” the man pulled back his hood. He had a pale face with short trimmed brown hair and a thin beard. “These are my friends,” he motioned to the rest of them. “Chris, Odette, Sara and Gabriella.”

The rest of them revealed their faces as their name was called and Alec noticed that one of them was not a Shadowhunter. Gabriella lacked the distinct runes of the Nephilim and he noticed green scales covering her neck and cheeks, matching nicely with her messy red locks.

“No last names?” Alec noticed.

Their leader shook his head, “Not for now.”

Alec sighed. He’ll have to work with what he has then.

“State your business here.”

“We’re looking for a warlock,” a woman – Odette – stepped forward.

Alec felt the tension around him increase. It was very possible they were allied with the warlock they were looking for. Or Rafael and Max’s father.

Alec hoped for the latter but decided to speak as vaguely as possible as not to scare the strangers away. If they were the enemy, he wanted to gather as much information as possible before they realized what’s happening.

However, Magnus spoke up before Alec could decide on his own question, “How did you open that portal?”

Eric turned to face Magnus and Alec immediately decided that he didn’t like the look on the man’s face. He couldn’t quite decipher it, but it seemed as if for a moment Eric was in pain before his face turned stone cold.

“I opened it,” the warlock confessed from behind her Shadowhunter friends.

“Where did you get the necessary amount of energy for that?” Magnus didn’t relent, his eyes squinted at the group.

“What does it matter?” Chris, the only other male of the group, snapped.

The sudden cold attitude made a direct impact on Jace who had slightly relaxed during the conversation and he snapped back into a defensive position.

“It matters whether or not we should throw you in a cell for the murder of three dozen people,” he growled.

Alec groaned. The other party once again seemed to have come to some kind of an agreement before Eric faced them.

“We do not pose any threat to you. And we do not know anything about the manslaughter,” Eric spoke. “We are looking for… some people. We would appreciate your help, but if not, we will get out of your way.”

Alec mussed on his answer when he heard the clicks of Isabelle’s heels behind him before her breath ghosted over his ear.

“We should let them come to the Institute. They could prove useful.”

“We don’t know if they’re telling the truth,” he leaned his head back to whisper. “If they are after…” he glanced at the strangers, “you know who, we could lead them straight to _them_.”

“Or they could be _their_ family,” Izzy argued back. “Besides you have around hundred Shadowhunters there. We’ll be in control of the situation.”

“Then why not just say who they’re looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Izzy agreed. “But I trust you. You decide,” she whispered before stepping back.

Alec looked at Magnus who was looking at the strangers with a slightly puzzled look.

“What do you think?”

Magnus hummed, “They are withholding a lot of information, but… I agree with your sister. Let’s just not mention our guests for a while, though.”

“Jace?” he turned to the blond.

He was clearly not comfortable with the plan but nodded anyway, his face was set in a suspicious frown. “Fine. They do something stupid, I get the first punch at the guy,” his gaze flickered to Chris.

Alec turned back to the other group, examining them closely before giving his answer.

“We may be able to help each other. We believe a disappearance of some of our Shadowhunters is linked to… an energy signature similar to the portal you created in Central Park.”

Eric’s eyes widened for what couldn’t be more than a fractionation of a second but Alec didn’t miss the look on the man’s face. He clearly knew more than he was letting on.

“We’ll help however we can,” Eric nodded and Alec supposed it would have to do for now.

The man motioned his team to finally lower his weapons and as they disarmed so did Alec’s party, though Jace seemed very reluctant about it.

“We’re coming over,” Alec warned the group and watched as Eric and his people stepped sideways to give them the room necessary for a jump.

The jump between the buildings was not a problem for them with their runes activated while Magnus just shook his head in amusement and muttered a spell before a blue shimmery path appeared in the air between the buildings and he gracefully walked over.

Alec once again squinted at how Eric’s gaze seemed to linger on Magnus longer than on others. He wasn’t sure what to think of it. He was definitely not pleased with it, but at the same, Eric’s look didn’t seem malicious.

“Thank you for cooperating,” Eric reached out his hand towards Alec and he shook it in a small bewilderment.

“Shall we?” Magnus magicked a portal into existence.

“Let’s go,” Jace, who was still eying everybody like they were about to grow a second head, moved towards the portal with Clary beside him. Right before stepping through though, he turned around and warned their new-found associates, “Don’t try anything funny.”

Sara, a blonde girl with striking blue eyes, snorted at that, earning herself a reprimanding look from Chris.

“We better go,” Odette huffed and she stepped through the portal with both Sara and Gabriella.

Eric and Chris were the last of their group to go through and Alec, Magnus and Izzy followed them.

They landed right outside the Institute’s steps and Alec took the lead walking them inside.

As they stepped into the ops room, the newcomers eying their surroundings with squinted eyes and tightly pressed lips, Shadowhunters currently present turned to look them suspiciously, their fingers twitching to reach for their weapons. Everybody was just slightly on edge recently, and having strangers in their midst put them on alert. Some even went as far as putting a hand on the handles of their blades. The chatter and noise in the room were replaced with a pregnant silence and the heavy awareness of the unknown.

Their group had barely reached the ops center’s main interactive table when a rapid thudding broke through the dead silence. Dozens of Shadowhunters turned their heads in confusion when shouts reached their ears from one of the hallways.

“Daddy! Daddy!”

They were desperate cries, slightly muffled by the panting breaths, but above all that Alec heard hope.

Unrestrained, unfiltered, brave hope.

What happened next seemed to transpire in seconds.

Eric’s head snapped to the direction of the children’s voices, his face pale, eyes wide in disbelief and lips parted in shock. Alec didn’t have enough time to react. Rafael and Max stumbled into the room, their small chests heaving with their panted breaths, Max’s hand clutched in Rafael’s as the older boy pulled him forward.

“Daddy?” Rafael called out, his other hand clutching an object that seemed to shine through the gaps of his little fist. His head was turning every which way searching, looking, and then looking again.

“Daddy?” Max echoed his brother’s call as Rafael’s frantic searching morphed into the most disappointed look Alec had ever seen. Like the boy’s world had crashed all over again.

Rafael’s shoulders slumped, his lower lip jutting out, a warning sign that he was close to crying while Max gave one last desperate cry of “Daddy!”. He seemed determined to find his father among the strangers and Alec’s chest grew tight in sympathy.

Magnus shifted to move forward with a heavy sigh, “Oh, boys-”

But shout from right next to them cut Magnus off with a startle.

“RAFE! BLUEBERRY!”

Eric who had been frozen in his spot like the rest of his comrades took a staggering step forward.

The shout had an immediate effect on the two boys who had quickly become the center of the attention for the whole room. Their eyes brightened for a second before they saw the stranger advance and they took a cautious step backward. Rafael pushed his little brother behind himself and even adopted a familiar basic defensive posture. Alec was impressed at his loyalty to his brother and the protection of him.

Only then did he finally snap out of his shock and was about to get in between the boys and the stranger when a hand pulled him back. He turned to glare, ready to put Chris into the ground, throwing a feverish look back to Eric, fully aware that the man would get to the boys before he managed to deal with Chris and prevent that. He looked pleadingly at Magnus to do something, but the warlock was silently surveying the whole scene, a calculating look on his face.

Seeing the fear and trepidation in the boys seemed to break something in Eric. “No, no, no,” he muttered under his breath and let out something that sounded alarmingly like a sob before all his weapons clattered to the floor. He reached for his stele with a trembling hand, gliding it over his forearm with practiced ease.

Alec watched as his form started to shimmer and change. His hair changing to black, his whole frame becoming bigger and more intimidating. He glanced fearfully at the boys who seemed fixated on Eric and when the glamour was completely gone a shrill yell tore from Max’s throat before he was launching himself forward.

“Daddy!!!”

Alec watched mesmerized as Eric (if that was even his real name) all but collapsed after taking a couple of steps forward and two sobbing bodies collided with his own. He didn’t see the man’s face, but he did see the man’s shoulders shaking as he wrapped both boys in his arms burying his face between them and slightly swaying back and forth.

“I’m here. I’m here,” he heard the man choke out. “By the Angel, you’re safe. You’re okay. You’re both okay.”

Rafael and Max burrowed into the man’s lap as Eric kept stroking their hair and backs to calm the boys’ crying while still shaking with his own sobs. Alec was too focused on them to notice the moment Eric’s comrades moved. It was barely a second before they had created a protective circle around Eric, Max, and Rafael, their weapons raised in a warning.

Alec blinked away the surprise and turned around to only then notice that almost everybody in the room had drawn their weapons and were glaring at the small party.

“Who are you?” Jace demanded, his own blade raised high.

Instead of answering though all three Shadowhunters reached into their pockets for their Steles. Alec watched with an impending sense of doom as they one after other moved it over their glamour rune and revealed their true faces.

Alec was unable to do anything but stare at the people in front of him speechless. He had no idea how Magnus managed to make his voice work.

“Well... this is interesting,” the warlock huffed in amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? This chapter is really important to me so please let me know what you think! I feed my muse with your comments. :D


	10. Two of everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your wonderful words! I can only hope I've done right by you with this chapter! 
> 
> As usual, this work would be a literary monstrosity( and not making any sense) without the wonderful help of my beta - shiny_starlight.

Magnus had had his suspicions. Ever since the encounter on the roof, he had felt something was off about their guests. He had kept a close, curious watch on them, but even though the idea had briefly flickered in his mind, he had not been prepared to come face to face with the… doubles of his favorite Shadowhunters.

“Holy Mothe-” Jace’s exclamation seemingly pulled everybody from their stupor.

The crowd moved as one giant wave, it was only a half a step forward, the weapons raised just an inch higher, but it was enough for a shield to spark into life, surrounding the new group.

“Catarina?” Magnus’ eyes flickered to where previously stood a woman who had introduced herself as Gabriella. Instead, his eyes wandered up and down the familiar blue skin tone and met the fierce orbs of his best friend.

The woman looked at him almost apologetically before her gaze flickered at the veritable army behind him and the warm look vanished behind a hard mask and the magical dome sparked dangerously. A warning to everyone who meant them harm.

As the initial bewilderment was starting to slowly wear off Magnus took the time to carefully examine who stood in front of him. No matter which way he looked, the resemblances were striking and there was no doubt as to their identities.

He started with the man who was staring menacingly at Jace. It was the same golden mop of hair, the mismatched pair of eyes and Magnus even recognized the fighting stance – mostly because Jace was the perfect mirror image: both slightly crouched, eyes focused and calculated. Even the smirk on the man’s face was the exact one Magnus had seen numerous times on Jace. Magnus huffed the thought that now he had two Jaces to deal with.

Next to him was a woman of flaming red hair and deep green eyes, previously only known as Sara, he recalled. However, unlike Jace, Clary had seemed to have grown exponentially. There was no sign of the troubled young girl who had a knack for overreacting and running into danger half-cooked. No, the woman who stood firmly at the blond man’s side was a storm in her own right. Magnus saw the confident grip she had on her weapon and her cautious watch of her surroundings. She was every bit a Shadowhunter as the rest of her group and seemed to embrace it with the strength and confidence of a young woman who knew her place in the world. And though the person she was now a stranger to him, Magnus couldn’t help but be proud of the woman.

And next to her was a black-haired beauty with the trademark bright red lips and a whip dangerously sliding down her wrist. Her dark eyes were glinting dangerously and she stood right in front of the man who was still crouched down to Max and Rafael – Magnus felt like he knew in his bones who she was protecting. The knowledge searing through his entire being and leaving behind a scorched path of want and impatience. His eyes flickered back to the woman, who, though still wearing the high heels and daring clothing (fashionable as always), had an air of maturity that the Isabelle Magnus knew didn’t quite yet possess.

Magnus felt his heart thudding painfully in his chest as he still couldn’t get a clear view of the fifth figure. He wanted to know. Gods, he wanted it so badly.

The thoughts - possibilities of a future he so desperately wanted – were running through his mind at a lightning speed, tripping over one another and causing him more confusion than clarity.

Gods he wanted that future.  

“We could use your help,” Izzy – Future Izzy? – whispered to the crouched figure.

Magnus watched the figure nod abruptly and he saw him trying to free himself from where Max and Rafael were clutching at him desperately. Magnus’ glance briefly flickered to Alec next to him. He was pale and frozen in his place. His eyes wide in disbelief and what Magnus recognized as fear.

The movement in front of them pulled his gaze away from his lover and though Magnus thought he handled their current situation better than any of the Shadowhunters present and he deemed himself ready to finally face the man, he wasn’t. Lilith, Angels, and whatever God there was, he was not ready at all.

His heart gave a startled jump as the man rose to his full height, he briefly acknowledged Max and Rafael clinging to his legs, but his mind was overcome with one single thought.

_Alexander. Alexander. Alexander._

His brain seemed to break as his eyes locked with the man. He knew he probably looked ridiculous – eyes wide, mouth parted and face pale – but at this moment, he couldn’t care less.

Alexander – the stranger – was stunning and not just in the same sense Magnus thought _his_ Alexander was stunning. No, there was something else. Like the others, he looked slightly older, though his hair was as messy as ever and his eyes held the same hazel shine. The air around him seemed more…mature, self-confident, grand (if not slightly imposing) and calm. No… not calm. Magnus knew the feeling that ran over his skin as he looked upon the man. That was the calm before the storm. This _Alec_ seemed resolute, with a focus sharp as his arrows and a slowly-bubbling anger that barely seemed to be contained. The man in front of him was a leader in every sense of the word. And though just a moment ago he was sobbing while holding his children, now he looked as intimidating as never before.

But as his eyes flickered down to the two boys, when Rafael tugged at his pants, Magnus saw it all melt away in a fraction of a second. He paid close attention, as if he couldn’t bear to miss this moment where he allowed the mantle of the leader slip away briefly. In that one loving glance Magnus saw affection, fear and finally relief glide over his features before he gave both boys an unfiltered smile of happiness and ran a hair through Rafael’s hair. Magnus remembered how Rafael and Max had called him and his heart gave a piercing pang as he understood that what he saw in front of him was not a warrior, leader or even a Shadowhunter, he was just…a dad.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he spoke softly to both boys. “I’ll go right there,” the father – Future Alec? - pointed to Alec and him. “They took care of you, right?”

Even though Rafael nodded his head he was clearly upset to let his dad go. Future Alec huffed fondly.

“I have to say thank you, right? And I want you to stay with Aunt Izzy for a bit.”

“You’ll come back?” Max snuffled.

Magnus noticed the flicker of pain on Future Alec’s face before he responded,

“Always. I promise.”

Both boys seemed to be content with that promise because they let go of their father and turned to the Future Izzy who had gone to kneel down at them.

“Come give me a hug,” the woman opened her arms and both boys immediately wrapped their arms around the woman. The three of them watched as Future Alec moved forward and without, the slightest flinch or hesitation, crossed the barrier of magic, coming out on the other side unarmed.

Jace moved as if to cover Alec and him, but Alec raised a hand to stop him. Magnus looked at his lover right in time to see the mask of the leader fall over the wonder and disbelief on his face. Side by side they patiently allowed the Future Alec to approach, though Magnus felt like there was a nervous energy bouncing off of them in waves.

Future Alec came to a halt in front of them and it was as if the whole room stopped breathing. Magnus could feel the dozens of glances on them and the pressure that came along with it.

One wrong move from either party and there was no doubt some trigger happy Shadowhunters would be ready to slice.

“Thank you,” Future Alec spoke, his strong, deep voice cutting the silence like a blade, as he extended his hand for a shake.

“For what?” Alec gripped the offered hand, and Magnus noticed that the action melted away some of the tension in their party, if not for the rest of the Shadowhunters.

“For taking care of my sons when I couldn’t,” he said with a hint of self-loathing, but it wasn’t enough for others, who weren’t actively invested in reading Alec like Magnus was, to notice.

Magnus saw his Alec relax slightly and took the moment to look around the room full of Shadowhunters. Full of strangers. Potential threats.

“If I may interrupt,” he said politely, trying to swallow how weird it felt to address _an Alec_ like that. But he didn’t want to assume. A lot could change in six years. It was so easy to fill out the blanks the way he saw fit and just _believe_ , but if he was wrong and got caught up in the future that may or may not even be _his_ , Magnus wasn’t sure he could survive the disappointment unscathed. So, for the time being, he’d tread carefully and not assume. “This may not be the best place to address our current situation,” he gave a pointed look to their curious onlookers. “I can offer my living room, if that’s okay. We can discuss things in a more private setting there.”

Future Alec finally let his eyes fully settle on him and Magnus couldn’t help but furrow his brows slightly at how a shadow of pain, anger, and disappointment flitted across his features. They didn’t hold eye-contact for long before Future Alec turned to Alec.

“That would be preferable, if you don’t mind.”

Alec shook his head and turned to Magnus, “Is it really okay? We can find another place if you want?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, darling,” Alec’s face softened at the nickname and only then did Magnus remembered that they were supposed to be fighting. And it was his fault.

“Okay then,” Alec agreed, interrupting Magnus’ path to self-loathing, and made his way over to Jace, seemingly ignorant how awkward it became when Magnus was left alone with Future Alec.

“Take them to the loft. I’ll deal with the mess here and be there in an hour,” Alec ordered and when Jace nodded his gaze moved to look at the Future Jace still glaring suspiciously, he added as an afterthought, “Try not to kill each other.” Jace gave Alec a flat look but sheathed his blade.

“That’s it then,” Magnus clapped his hands both to ease the tension and gather attention. “I’ll make a portal outside. The Institute is working under heavy security because of the recent events so even I can’t create a portal here.”

“Wait! What?” a voice both familiar and irksome reached their ears and Magnus barely surprised the urge to create a fireball and throw it at the man when he saw the eldest Ravenhill fight his way through the crowd of Shadowhunters.

In the back of his mind Magnus was half amused that of course, the poor excuse for a Shadowhunter would avoid the front lines and rather hang back behind the safety of dozens of his comrades.

“Mr. Ravenhill, what seems to be the problem?” Alec’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he turned to face the patriarch of the Ravenhill family.

“What seems to be the problem?” the man raised his voice in disbelief. Max whimpered and Future Alec, so in tune with his sons, immediately reacted. Magnus saw how the dark-haired Shadowhunter looked only once from his son to the annoyed man to make his conclusion and a dark, scary shadow settled over his features. 

“Something… like this happens and you’re just going to let them leave?” the man exclaimed. “Who runs an Institute like that?”

Magnus noticed how Alec bristled at the clear undermining of his authority and he truly feared what could happen when Max sniveled and hid deeper in Future Izzy’s embrace. Not that he cared much for the man, but he did not want to complicate the situation any more than necessary.

“And how would that be?” Alec challenged. Any smart person would see that Alec had some sort of plan, that he was clearly in the superior position in the argument, but the shallow man was easily baited.

“You’re allowing dangerous… strangers to leave and potentially put the entire city in danger!” Ravenhill announced and looked around the room for support. “Isn’t your job to protect and lead the New York Shadowhunters? Instead, you’re letting those people walk free just because they’ve spelled themselves to look like you! For all we know, they are going to pick us off one by one as soon as we step outside.”

A nervous murmur ran through the crowd and Jace and Izzy both seethed.

“I will-” Izzy started but Alec raised his hand.

“Mr. Ravenhill, would you suggest I accommodate them here?” Alec spoke clearly.

“Throw them in the cells!” a woman’s voice, that Magnus knew to belong to Ravenhill’s wife, shouted from behind and Magnus watched warily as their visitors lost all their relaxed posture.

“On what grounds, Mrs. Ravenhill?” Alec raised his voice for the woman to hear him but didn’t break eye contact with her husband. All the while, Future Alec watched his doppelganger in curious silence, though he had silently moved so he’d placed himself between the Ravenhill’s and his sons.

“Aside from looking like us, these people have done nothing wrong. Do any of you want to press charges?” Alec looked back at his team as they all shook their heads in denial. “So, considering there are no grounds for their arrest, should I show them to their quarters and welcome them as guests?” he asked Ravenhill, voice deceptively level.

A much calmer murmur stirred the crowd and Magnus saw that most of them started to direct their disapproving looks at Ravenhill. Magnus returned his gaze to his lover with a renewed sense of pride.

Alec was starting to gain the crowd’s approval and it didn’t go unnoticed by the angry man.

“It’s a mistake to let them leave!” he reiterated, simply shouting this time and clearly losing patience. “They still have the potential to be dangerous.”

“Oh, I know, Mr. Ravenhill,” Alec’s voice gained a disturbing sweetness and, with the low and soothing tone, it seemed like his opponent was starting to show fear. “I’ll let you choose then.”

A murmur of confusion rolled through the crowd, including Magnus and their group, as well as the newcomers. Magnus frowned, not really knowing where it was going.

“These people can either go and be therefore entrusted to the High Warlock of Brooklyn, a man with whom this Institute has a strong alliance,” he motioned to their group and then even spared Magnus a proud glance and small smile. Magnus refused to admit that his heart skipped a beat. Alec turned away and smirked at Ravenhill in a way that Magnus had never seen before. It was triumph and righteousness rolled into one stretch of lips, and it left Magnus breathless.

“Or,” he continued, pausing to stretch out the tension in the room, “I can let them stay here. In this very building. With you. A man who called his son,” Alec pointed at Future Alec, “a monster.  A scared boy who had just lost his dad and who ended up so scared and upset he couldn't calm down for an day and had nightmares throughout the night.”

A pause. The iciest pause Magnus had ever experienced in his life fell upon them before the words sank in and the dam broke.

Magnus acted on pure instinct, throwing his hand out and forcing a shield to materialize between Ravenhill and the furious Future Alec who needed only a fraction of a second to charge at the man with his blade out and gleaming.

“ALEC!” Magnus shouted in a desperate attempt to distract him, but the future persona of his lover ignored him. He did halt his charge, hitting the magical barrier and coming to a sudden stop in front of the cowering Shadowhunter, who had stumbled back when Future Alec had charged.

“Choose!” his Alec ordered, even when Ravenhill’s gaze was frozen on Future Alec who, despite being restrained behind a magical shield, was still snarling.

“...eave,” Ravenhill got out, his voice breaking between his gasps. “Leave! They can leave!”

“Very well,” Alec finally turned to them. “You may now leave.”

“Alexander?” Magnus uttered wild-eyed, the adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

“It’s okay,” the corners of his lips turned upward slightly and motioned them to the door.

Magnus warily eyed Future Alec, but he seemed to have gotten his initial reaction under control and was now just glaring at the man on the floor with pure hatred.

“Can I let you go?” Magnus asked skeptically. Alec was stupidly wonderful and he loved the man but there were going to be repercussions for his act of bravery and he did not want to make it worse by accidentally allowing Future Alec to murder the man.

“Yes,” Future Alec gritted out and Magnus lowered the shield around him. He watched him carefully, just in case, but the man didn’t charge a second time. Instead, he turned to both of his sons and swiftly picked up Max, settling the boy on his hip. Future Izzy was holding Rafael’s hand as she followed her brother and their group back to the main entrance. Izzy, Clary, and Jace took their positions guarding their doppelgangers with Magnus taking the rear.

He glanced back at Alec in worry, but he’d had already turned his back and was speaking quickly, obviously giving orders to the Shadowhunter next to him.

Their group was silent as they left, except for Future Alec murmuring something in Max’s hair every so often and it almost seemed peaceful till a shout from behind caught their attention.

“Hey, wait for me!”

Magnus turned to see Simon running after them, looking slightly wide-eyed but with a large grin practically splitting his face in half. He looked like he’d just won the lottery.

“If it isn’t the worst babysitter on the planet!” Jace smirked.

“Shut up, Jace, like you would be better,” he responded making his way over.

“Simon? How may we help you?” Magnus asked. He was tired. He wanted to go home and have a strong drink before he had to figure out how to deal with… everything. He also hated to leave Alexander behind after what he had just done.

“Uh?” Simon gave him an incredulous look. “There are literally time travelers in front of me!” he gestured at the group. “Like Star Trek and Terminator and every other movie that talks about time travel. No way in hell am I missing this,” he huffed indignantly and crossed his arms over his chest.

Future Izzy chuckled at it, but Magnus just raised an eyebrow at the vampire only giving it a second’s thought.

“Fine. You can come,” he sighed, magicking a portal in front of them. “But no geeking out.”

“Can’t promise that. It’s time travel. What can be more exciting than that?” Simon snickered and moved towards the portal before stopping just short of entering. “Uh, where were we going?”

“Lilith, kill me,” Magnus groaned before grabbing Simon’s shoulder. “My loft,” he explained before stepping through and dragging the vampire with him, effectively cutting off Jace’s roar of laughter.

As soon as he landed in his loft’s hallway, he felt some of his nerves ease up. It was good to be home. It felt like ages since he had been there with all that had been going on in the Institute.

He waited as one after another his guests arrived and when Catarina brought up the rear and nodded at him, he closed down the portal and put up his wards. They still had an enemy out there and he didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention.

“I believe we should wait for Alexander to finish things up before we catch each other up. In the meantime,” he gestured to the living room behind him. “Make yourselves at home.”

Future Alec gave him an appreciative nod as he went further inside. He settled on the dark couch and Max and Rafael immediately made themselves comfortable next to him.

Magnus couldn’t help but watch as the man’s eyes twinkled with joy when he listened to his children – they were gesturing energetically as they talked and seemed happier in these ten minutes than in the last few days combined. Magnus had always had a feeling that Alec would someday make a great father, but now that he had the proof of it sitting in his living room, he still couldn’t help but be overcome with astonishment and pride. There was also a foreign warmth that made his heart swell but it was something Magnus knew he wasn’t yet ready to explore further.

Instead, as they all settled and found their place, he continued to sneak looks at the boys’ father and the way his hands seemed to ever so often brush over Rafael’s back or ruffle Max’s hair. Just at that moment, Rafael whispered something to his brother, who nodded sharply before both boys launched themselves at their father and hugged him tightly, much to the Future Alec’s bewilderment and the amusement of his future siblings.

Magnus turned away when he saw Future Alec’s eyes glaze over with almost primal pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and share your thoughts! :)


	11. Future Magnus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I got carried away with this chapter and it ended up being 7k words. And mind you, people, I had half the mind to divide it in 2 and torture you all a bit but I wanted to stay constant in my chapters and the switch the POV after every chapter. So you get a chapter twice the size of the normal.
> 
> A HUGE, HUGE thank you to shiny_starlight! This chapter took a lot from both of us!
> 
> Happy Reading!

Alec was starting to regret all of his life choices. Well, okay, maybe not all of them. He’s never regretted Magnus. But he was definitely starting to question the choices that led him to his mother staring down at him like he had suddenly turned into a frog.

“Mom, you’re staring,” he finally complained after she just kept looking at him in silent disbelief.

“Yes, well, I’m debating whether I can still ground a full-grown man,” she squinted.

“I don’t think you can,” Alec answered weakly in his own defense, but he knew that if anyone could figure out a way, it was Maryse Lightwood.

The staring didn’t let up for a while and with each passing second his office seemed to shrink in its size. His heart was hammering in his chest, unsure and nervous about her response. The problem was, he couldn’t figure out whether Maryse was angry, disappointed or happy.

He risked a glance at her again, under his lashes. Okay, so she was most definitely not happy. Tick that one off the list.

“Fine,” she eventually sighed, bringing up her hands to massage her temple and taking a deep breath before making eye contact with him again. “Let me get this straight. There is a time-traveling warlock who kills Shadowhunters for his personal vendetta, and you found two boys from the future, looking for their father. And then the father shows up looking like you and now they are all at Magnus’ having tea? Did I miss anything?”

“I don’t know if they are having tea,” Alec shrugged, which apparently was a bad idea if his mother’s glare was anything to go by. “Oh, and there are also people who look like Jace, Izzy, Clary, and Catarina, Magnus’s friend” he specified, just to make sure who he was referring to; all the while keeping a close watch at his mother’s breathing patterns. It was really hard to distinguish between panicked breathing and her spitting fire in her anger. “And Arthur Ravenhill probably wants to impeach me,” he added as an afterthought.

“I know,” his mother glared. “He’s complaining about your actions to anybody who would listen in the Clave.”

“Do you think he could do something?”

For the first time since his mother’s sudden appearance, her eyes warmed up with soft reassurance. “The Council is waiting to see how you deal with the situation before they step in. You’ve gained support in the Clave and after everything you, Jace, Izzy, and Clary have done, they are taking their time before acting. They don’t want to risk losing your popularity with the Downworld.” The warmth that spread through his chest at her words was dampened by her follow up warning. “It doesn’t mean they won’t be watching you like hawks. The Ravenhills may not have much pull in the Clave and they are mostly driven by grief, but I know for certain that whoever those people you’re protecting are have made the  Clave very cautious. They may side with the Ravenhills if it all goes back. Tread carefully, Alec.”

“I’m not protecting them,” Alec argued. “Yes, it’s confusing, but they seem to have answers we need and it’s better if we keep them close.”

Maryse looked at him, searching for something before giving him a curt nod.

“I suggest you keep them out of here though. People are on the edge and though you’ve warned them not to spread rumors before knowing for certain, you can’t seal their lips, Alec.”

Alec had to agree. The situation felt oddly intimate and though he had tried to contain it after Magnus took everybody to the loft, he didn’t feel like the Institute was the right place to deal with it. There was just one problem.

“I can’t just leave everything here and go,” he groaned.

To which his mother only smirked, “You could leave it up to me.”

“What?”

“I’m serious. I know how things operate here and it will give you the necessary freedom to deal with the situation.”

Alec didn’t have to think about it too much. It was the most logical course of action, and he was grateful to his mother for suggesting it. He had a feeling things were going to get worse before they ever got better, and that his look-alike and those two boys would be in the center of it. He knew he didn’t want to be left out of the action and he felt like he had reached the limit to what his administrative duties could do in the situation. Besides, his mother had way more experience when dealing with politics and irrational, emotion-driven Shadowhunters. She had the necessary cool and unbiased standing for it.

Well, mostly unbiased in this situation.

“Are you sure?”

Maryse nodded. “Promise to keep in touch and I’ll do whatever I can to make sure the Shadowhunters here don’t get in your way.”

The appeal of the offer had him thrumming with almost giddy energy, but he collected himself enough to nod in relief.

“Thank you, Mom.”

“We’ll keep searching for the missing Shadowhunters from our end. You deal with the… time-travelers?” She raised an eyebrow at the last words.

“I guess,” he laughed nervously, leaning forward on the couch they were sitting and giving his mother a brief hug. “Thank you again.”

“Yes, yes, yes, now go!” she patted him on the back before pushing him up to stand. “Get to Magnus’.”

“Okay,” he let out a laugh at her exasperation and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Take care of my Institute,” he said on his way out.

“I was the Head before you,” his mother chastised and before he left the office he heard her call out. “And I want constant updates.”

“Yes, Mother,” he answered before closing the door and taking a deep breath to calm himself. It wouldn’t do for the Head of the Institute to be seen running out the door at full speed to get to his boyfriend’s house. It wouldn’t be seemly, even if he wasn’t just heading there for a date. He was itching to know what was happening at the loft so every calculated, calm step he took was torture. As soon as he got out of everybody’s sight, he activated his glamour and speed rune and rushed off.

He only slowed down to a normal pace when he was outside Magnus’ building. He didn’t want to barge in fresh out of a sprint and out of breath; Alec knew his siblings (and Magnus) well enough to expect an onslaught of questions and he couldn’t answer them if he didn’t have any breath.

Instead Alec calmly took the elevator up, unsure as to what he would find in the loft. He hadn’t been gone long – barely over two hours and it was still an early afternoon. Surely those two hours hadn’t been enough for Jace to start a fight, right? The fact that Alec didn’t really believe himself didn’t help ease his nerves.

When he finally reached the door, he took a moment to listen, but when everything seemed quiet he reached for the handle and pushed the door open. The sight before made Alec feel like he was daydreaming. He felt the weight of the ten pairs of eyes that turned his way at his entrance, and he blinked slowly, frozen in place as he scanned the room.  It looked like there hadn’t been any bloodshed yet, but there was a new couch in the living room.  Magnus had obviously conjured up more seating for all his guests, and Alec noted some of ‘his’ family seated on the new, dark green velvet couch which was had been placed parallel to Magnus’ favorite teal one. The old couch contained his doppelganger, and the boys were huddled close, refusing to let go. Though, if the near death grip the other Alec had on the back of Rafael’s shirt was any indication, the feeling was mutual. The rest of their counterparts were sprawled over the rest of the couch and the surrounding armchairs.  

“Alexander!” The awkward silence made by his arrival was cut short by Magnus’ voice as he got up and greeted him with a worried frown.

“I’m good. It’s okay,” he reached to squeeze Magnus’ hand where it had landed on his bicep. It was a pretty futile gesture, he knew, but he had to try and stop Magnus from worrying. He looked over Magnus’ shoulder where the rest were now wearing looks of worry or suspicion.

“How are things here?”

“Quiet,” Magnus sighed disappointedly. “They seem as suspicious of us as we are of them.”

Alec could see that Magnus wanted to say something more, but his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the words. Alec frowned before realization dawned; he had almost forgotten that they were in the middle of a fight. He gave Magnus a brief smile and his arm another gentle squeeze as he walked further into the room, hoping that it would be enough for now. They would have to deal with the matter at hand before they got to sort out their own personal problems.

“That was stupid,” Jace grumbled from his spot at the window. Izzy, Clary, and Simon had taken the summoned sofa and were eying the party opposite of them with looks of suspicions, bewilderment, and smugness respectively.

“Why is he here?” he pointed to Simon, glaring at Jace who just shrugged.

“Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Because,” Alec growled, turning to look at the vampire, “he was supposed to watch them.”

He indicated to where the boys were cuddling with the man who, no matter how you looked at it, was an exact copy of him. Max was sleeping with his head in the man’s lap, his father’s hand running through his hair and over his back; Rafael was pressed close to the man’s side and was toying around with a Stele. Alec acknowledged the look the man was giving him before turning back to Simon.  “How can an adult, with vampire reflexes, lose two kids who haven’t even hit double digits yet twice in two days?” He raised an eyebrow at the Downworlder who would have probably blushed in embarrassment if he could.

Instead, Izzy came to his aid. “Stop harassing him, Alec.”

“Yes, thank you!” Simon chimed in, coming to life at his sister’s voice. “How was I supposed to know that the necklace can shine? I mean… one moment we’re building Star Wars Lego set and the next they are running like the Devil is chasing them.” “And,” he huffed, “I’ll let you know that those boys can run. Man, they are fast. And tiny?” Alec blinked in slight astonishment as Simon glared at him accusingly, “I would want to see how you could keep up with them when they fit in places you can’t. I crawled under the cook looking for them! I’d like to see you try to keep an eye on them,” he huffed, not seeming to notice (or just ignoring) the looks just about everyone in the room was giving him.

A pause set in where people from both sides seemed at the loss for words.

Finally, Clary spoke up. “You crawled under Eric?”

“Yes,” Simon snapped. “No! That’s not the point!” he huffed in annoyance.

Jace snorted, clapping a hand over his mouth as his shoulders shook slightly with suppressed laughter. “He crawled under Eric.”

“I didn’t exactly crawl under him!” Simon hissed, shooting a glare at the blond. “He’s huge and he was blocking the way while talking to somebody. The boys just…sneaked through them and I…I don’t know…I followed in their footsteps. I tripped over something…and the next moment he was falling over. And…and…I WAS JUST CHASING THE CHILDREN!”

The exasperated look on the vampire’s face and the amused looks on everyone else’s set them all on the brink of laughter. All it took was a hastily smothered snicker from Izzy’s counterpart, and they were gone. Before Alec knew it, everybody was doubled over in laughter much to Simon’s displeasure.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh at the vampire,” he huffed.

It was a happy sound. For a moment, Alec forgot that they were in a room with what appeared to be their future selves, with two previously lost boys and enough mistrust between them all to make this truce very uneasy.

The laughter was cut short, though, when a sleepy whine reached their ears.

“Daddy?”

Shit, they’d woken Max up.

Future Alec immediately sobered up (yes, even his lips had been pulled tight in amusement) and he shushed his son.

“It’s okay, Blueberry. Daddy’s here. I’m sorry we woke you up,” he soothed, running a gentle hand over his son’s hair.

“Daddy’s here,” the boy mumbled, looking around with bleary eyes before settling back in his father’s lap.

The room held its breath as Max’s breaths evened out before Magnus spoke up.

“I have a free guest room if you maybe want to put him down.” His eyes were soft with affection as he looked at the peaceful boy. “We do have some business to discuss.”

Future Alec looked torn. He looked down at the boy for a long moment before sighing deeply.

“That’s probably for the best,” he replied, shuffling around and wrapping his arms under the boy’s shoulders and back. Max stirred at the movement, but Future Alec soothed him in a soft voice. “Sleep, Max. You’re safe.”

Rafael puffed his cheeks in irritation as his father left the room; eyes glued to the hallway his father had disappeared down. Alec’s heart gave a painful sting seeing the doubt in the boy’s eyes.

“Raf?” Future Jace nudged the boy playfully, leaning down so he was eye-level with his nephew. “I believe your favorite uncle still hasn’t gotten his hug. Did you miss me too?”

It drew out a shy smile from the boy who promptly crawled into Future Jace’s lap, weaving his small arms around the Shadowhunters neck. Alec risked a quick peek at his Jace, who was looking at the scene with a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He looked wistful, and Alec’s heart gave another lurch.

He never thought he would ever see Jace so soft and relaxed around children. Admittedly, he was great with Max. But, to be honest, their relationship was more of a secret alliance for mischief-making than giving calming hugs to clearly scared boys. Max always went to him or Izzy for hugs. The Future Jace seemed to have lost the fear of showing emotions and, though he hadn’t let his guard around them, (Alec saw how he was sitting closest to the door so in case there was trouble, their way out wouldn’t be blocked. Always the soldier, always ready), he looked comfortable brushing a calming hand over Rafael’s back.

His eyes were drawn to the motion of it and as Future Jace’s hand pulled down the collar of Rafael’s t-shirt on its downward stroke, the thin thread of the necklace caught Alec’s attention.

Wait.

He turned to Simon, who was currently involved in a whispered conversation with Clary, and thought back over the Vampire’s outburst.

He said that the necklace was shining, right?

Alec frowned, turning back and trying to catch a better glimpse of the necklace that was now hidden under the boy’s shirt. And though he couldn’t see much, it was clear that it was not shining and there was no proof that it ever had been. But then again, Alec seemed to recall something shiny in Rafael’s hand when the boys had burst into the ops room earlier when their guests had arrived.

His train of thought got interrupted by the footsteps of Future Alec as he reappeared in the living room and settled back in his spot, Rafael immediately returning to his side.

“I feel discarded,” Future Jace huffed, though there’s a hint of softness in his accusation.

Future Alec only raised an eyebrow at him, “I’m his father. I always come first.” He looked down at Rafael, “Right, Raf?”

The boy seemed slightly confused at the conversation but nodded anyway before adding,

“Uncle Jace buys me ice cream.”

“And too much ice cream is bad for your teeth,” Future Alec chided not unkindly before giving his brother an accusing look. “Are you bribing my son?”

The blond only shrugged, completely uninterested in defending himself. “Izzy takes them shopping, Simon can spend hours reading comics and watching movies with them, and Clary is always doing some kind of art project with them. I have to buy my share of love somehow.”

The conversation seemed so mundane that it managed to catch Alec off guard. It seemed so similar, the energy thrumming between the other pair of _parabatai_ so familiar but at the same time much calmer and steadier. Alec eyed the pair, trying to find what it was that made them so different, so content, but couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

“Uhh, Catarina?” Magnus’ voice brought him out of his woolgathering, and he turned to look at his boyfriend. That’s right. They were actually here to get some answers. The female warlock nodded in agreement. “I’d rather not dither long and ask the question we all know requires answering,” he announced, slight amusement lacing his voice. It was clear that he knew the answer anyway, and, therefore he would also spot any lies. “Am I correct to assume that you are from the future?”

That was the question of the day. And one which the arriving group seemed awkwardly hesitant to answer.

Catarina shot a brief glance towards the rest of her group but nodded, “Yes, Magnus, we are.”

“How can we be sure you’re telling us the truth,” Alec asked, drawing all eyes to himself once again with his question.

Catarina smiled and turned to Magnus.

“Brunei, June, 1938,” she simply said, and after a moment where Magnus was clearly thinking back, he gave a little huff of laughter and turned to Alec.

“It’s her,” he said, not a trace of doubt in his voice. “That’s my Catarina, I’m sure of it.”

“Wait, what happened in Brunei-,” Simon interrupted, but Clary jabbed him sharply in the side with her elbow.

“Not the time,” she shushed, and Simon sat back sulkily.

“As I was saying,” Magnus said, amusement clear in his voice, “that’s definitely Catarina. Only she would bring up that particular incident to prove a point” He raised an eyebrow at the other warlock, “I can see no reason for her to concoct such an elaborate lie. This must be the truth. These are your future selves.”

It seemed almost comic how that one answer suddenly made everything that much more surreal. Like suddenly, when they actually got solid confirmation to their assumptions, it made everything much harder to comprehend. Time travel and future children coming back sounded like something out of a H.G. Wells novel (one of many authors which works adored Magnus’ shelves and were Alec’s to explore) and until now they could write it off as a crazy hunch, something concocted by their tired brain when all other possibilities were exhausted. But now that they had proof of their ‘crazy hunch’…? Well, it was difficult for Alec to say which one he would have preferred.

“Then why hide?” Magnus asked, voicing the question Alec was sure was on everyone’s minds. “Wouldn’t it be easier to convince us wearing the faces of the people you’re trying to get the help from?”

Catarina smirked, “You know the answer, Magnus.”

Alec didn’t even have time to ask what she meant by that.

“Time travel paradox,” Magnus answered with a slight incline of his head. And when half of the room (those not currently in the wrong time) looked at him questioningly, he explained. “Travel in time is said to have serious consequences. It is impossible to avoid changing something in the future since their,” he motioned to the future counterparts, “existence in this time alone is a change. By being here, they are either changing their own past and our future or-”

“Creating another timeline,” Catarina finished for him. “We didn’t know which was which, so it was better to play safe from the very beginning.”

“And?” Izzy questioned, showing her curiosity as a scientist. “Do you know now?”

It was Future Izzy that answered her with a shake of her head, “Unfortunately, we don’t. This is our past. Up until a few days ago, everything matched to what we remember. But from there on out things have changed. Our present may not be your future. We certainly don’t remember meeting out future selves on this date.”

“So, they screwed with our future is what they are saying,” Jace growled.

“Jace,” Alec warned. He didn’t think threatening or accusing the group would solve anything.

“No,” Jace fought back. “Because they showed up they messed with our timeline.”

“We wouldn’t know our future in normal circumstances anyway, there’s no point in getting angry about things changing if you don’t know how they would be in the first place,” Alec growled. “Besides, you’ve traveled to an alternative universe before. That certainly wasn’t more natural than this and the world didn’t collapse because you were there. I doubt it’s going to do that now.”

He looked at Catarina and Magnus for confirmation, but they seemed as uncertain as he. At least till Magnus spoke up. “I believe, that’s our best bet now. We can’t think about cosmic consciences anyway.” He gave the future group a look of compassion, “They are clearly in trouble. And we have a murderer to catch. I suggest we focus on that. Afterward, we can argue about the laws of the universe.”

Jace opened his mouth again to speak, but before he had the chance, Izzy’s voice rang out, strong and clear. “I agree.” She was followed by several nods of assent from people around the room, all varying in the level of certainty they possessed but happy to at least agree on something. Finally.

“Great,” Magnus clapped his hands when Jace eased out of his scowl, seeing that he was clearly outnumbered in his opinion. “How about we compare what we all know and then we can go from there?”

The confused looks he got from the rest of the room was an easy sign that it wouldn’t be as easy as they had initially hoped so Alec took the lead with what had been occupying his thoughts for a while now.

“Simon,” he faced the vampire, who startled at being asked the first question, “You said that Rafael’s necklace was shining, right?”

The vampire looked at him warily, but he nodded his head anyway. “Yeah, it started shining and Rafael just freaked out. They ran out of the room before I even understood what was going on.” Simon gave an encouraging smile in Rafael’s direction. The gazes in the room had shifted toward the boy and he had deemed it safer to bury his face in his dad’s chest.

“Is that true Rafael?” Magnus kneeled down to the boy. “Did your necklace shine?”

The boy looked up at his father who nodded in encouragement. That seemed to give him the confidence he needed to pull the piece of jewelry from beneath his shirt and give it to Magnus.

“It’s magic,” the boy said in wonder. “It shines when Daddy is close.”

“Did your mom make it?” Simon, who had stood up to watch over Magnus’ shoulders, asked.

Alec noticed the way Magnus’ shoulders stiffened, his whole form becoming rigid. It only then occurred to him that he had never thought about what the two boys meant. What they represented. Max clearly couldn’t have been the biological son of Future Alec, future him, but Rafael… Did he really leave Magnus? After the ruined wedding and everything that they had been through, did Alec really let that all disappear? Did he do the same thing Magnus had rescued him from all that time ago? As the thoughts whirled around his head, a sudden rush of disgust ran over his skin as he looked at Future Alec. Did that man really end up marrying a woman and having children with her?

Rafael starred up at the vampire as a childish confusion set in.

“I don’t have a mom.”

He said it so plainly like it was the simplest truth in the world. The future Shadowhunters and Catarina all watched quietly the whole interaction and Alec briefly wondered why they were making Rafael explain everything.

“I’m sorry, Rafael,” Magnus whispered, but the boy didn’t seem sad. Instead, the child looked up at his father who was patiently allowing his son to speak. Not seeing any objections from his father, the boy continued.

“Papa made this,” he explained.

“Papa?” Magnus echoed slightly bewildered.

Alec saw the slight tremble of Magnus’ hands but apparently, he wasn’t the only one watching the warlock. Future Alec’s questioning gaze lingered on him as well and when it seemed that Rafael wasn’t going to explain it any further than a simple nod, Future Alec interrupted.

“His name,” Future Alec looked at his son who was holding onto the chain of his necklace despite the pendant resting in Magnus’ palm, “is Rafael Lightwood-Bane. And his brother is Max Lightwood-Bane.”

Alec’s eyes shot to Magnus and he gasped in delight. He could have laughed at how right that seemed. It clicked. It felt… perfect. It made sense. He remembered how easy it was to get the boys to trust them, how they spent time with them and how they allowed Magnus to comfort them. Rafael and Max didn’t have a mom, they had Papa and Daddy, and they had said their papa was a warlock.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who were their parents, but the problem was that it wasn’t a matter of the brain, but rather that of the heart. It was a brave dream that Alec was too scared to imagine. He knew he wanted it, craved it even. He knew that the idea of him and Magnus being the parents had lingered deep in his heart ever since the reunion in the ops room but as he stood there, he realized that he was so scared. Scared to get his hopes up only for them to be destroyed.

In his happiness, it took him a while to register Magnus’ look of disbelief. And…delirium?

And, seeing the glazed look on the warlock face, another realization washed over him like cold water. Max and Rafael were not theirs. Not yet anyway. They were not their parents and the boys were not their sons. The encompassing feeling of joy was not theirs to have… yet.

So, when Magnus looked at him like he held both the question and the answer, like he was supposed to know what to do now, he shook his head. Just slightly. It wasn’t a refusal; just a warning, a plea. And Alec saw the moment those gorgeous eyes he loved so much widened as he registered the dangerous waters they were currently in. He saw how he silently schooled his features, gave Rafael a brave smile and extended his hand for the boy to shake.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Rafael Lightwood-Bane.”

There was a slight, almost imperceptible hitch in his breath as he spoke their combined last names. It was barely there, and Alec was certain that no one else had caught it, not knowing as well as Alec did. But Alec noticed. And so did Future Alec as well, it seemed.  Alec was sure he hadn’t imagined the slight uptick of the other man’s lips.

 

“Man, I knew you were meant to be,” Simon finally announced and that seemed to disrupt the bubble around him, Magnus, Future Alec and little Rafael.

“Then why ask if his ‘mom’ made the necklace, Simon?” Clary raised an eyebrow at her friend, much to the amusement of the Future Clary who had been silently eying her counterpart the entire time.

Simon just shrugged. “I didn’t want to presume.”

“Can we trace the necklace then?” Future Jace asked before they could get sidetracked. “Since our Magnus made it?”

Their Magnus. The warlock they had doubted was even alive, the boys’ father. It was Future Magnus. Alec knew that the man was not _his Magnus_ , but he couldn’t help the spark of panic low in his spine.

“I tried that when we first found Max and Rafael. It didn’t work,” Magnus shook his head. The air seemed to leave the room as their future counterparts took deep breaths, almost in unison. Their helplessness was almost palpable, but Catarina’s voice was doubtful as she asked, “Maybe that’s because you were tracking another you? Could there have been a snapback?”

Magnus looked at her and then the pendant.

“Maybe,” he mused, looking between her and the pendant in his hand. “It did feel weird that time. Like my magic bounced back into itself.  You try.” He handed her the jewelry and Alec couldn’t help but hold his breath as the whole room waited.

“Nothing,” Catarina sighed after a few minutes of concentration. “It searches for a while before it finds you.” She looked at Magnus. “My guess is that my magic can’t differentiate between the two of you.”

“It was worth a try,” Future Alec whispered reaching out his hand for the necklace. Catarina passed the item with an apologetic smile.

However, the result of the simple action caught them unprepared.

As soon as the metal hit Future Alec’s skin, the gold started to shine and got brighter and stronger. In a matter of seconds, the light got so bright, it enveloped the whole room in a wave of white light. Alec threw his hands to cover his face and protect his eyes, with little effect.

“Wha-”

“Alec?” he heard somebody say but he couldn’t pinpoint who had spoken. He heard Rafael’s terrified cry in the background before it suddenly cut short, but he was paralyzed by the intensity of the light. Others seemed in the same position, but everyone was talking; shouting questions and checking in on each other. Their voices mixed and created a vortex of sound that, along with the bright light, overloaded his senses and disorientated him all the more. It seems endless, despite his training as a Shadowhunter he felt paralyzed as the outside sensations and the light seemed to heat up his skin.

Finally, just as he thought the brightness would burn the tears from his eyes, it faded.

Hesitantly, he parted his hands and blinked the tears out of eyes to clear them, fighting the spots of brightness that remained for a time. The world slowly regained its normal hue, and he turned his head around to see what had happened. He was about to ask something when the question got stuck on his tongue.

The necklace was still shining, the light was shooting upwards from the coffee table where Future Alec had dropped it in favor of looking over his son who was unconscious in his arms.

“Rafael?” The man’s voice trembled slightly as he lightly patted the boy’s cheek.

“He’s okay,” Magnus explained. “I put him under a sleeping spell.”

The future group had crowded over the father and son, but Alec’s gaze was drawn to the necklace.

Was it him or was the light making a shape?

“Magnus?” he questioned the warlock who was trying to justify himself to the upset future Shadowhunters. They apparently didn’t like that he had spared Rafael by putting him to sleep.

When Magnus failed to answer, Alec looked to his family. He was pleased to see that their eyes were drawn to the same thing as his was and that he wasn’t imagining things.  

“Is that-?” Izzy frowned, tilting her head to look at the shape from a different angle.

The light continued to gather in a single spot, forming a ball of light with shades of blue swirling in it. If Alec looked close enough, he could see the light pulse at a steady pace, like a heartbeat.

“Have you ever seen something like this?” Clary asked to no one particular.

At the sound of her voice, the light shimmered, seemingly coming alive.

“Biscuit?” a voice emanated from it, startling them in their spots.

Alec would recognize that voice anywhere. And apparently so could anyone else in the room. Their future counterparts and Magnus who were still fussing around Rafael (no matter how much Magnus insisted that it was not necessary) snapped their heads upwards at the sound of it.

“It can’t be,” Catarina whispered, being the first one to find a voice in the momentary stupor. “Magnus?”

That one word set the whole world back in motion.

“Magnus?” Future Alec repeated looking first to Catarina and then to the orb of light.

“Alexander?” the shape spoke again. “Oh, thank the Angel, you found them!” A relieved sob emanated from the light in a rush. “You did find them, right? Max and Rafael? They’re both safe, right? Please tell me they are safe. I… I-”

“I found them. They are safe,” Future Alec blurted out, his eyes blown wide as he stared at the source of the voice “But Ma… Magnus, uhh what… what is this?”

“It’s a spell, darling,” the apparition said. “I gave Rafael a necklace and spelled it so that it would let him know when you were near them. And when you’d touch it, it would allow me to speak with you,” he explained. “Thank the Gods it worked. I didn’t know if it would get past his wards. But it did, it work-” he was cut short as what sounded like a severe cough caused him to stutter and gasp for breath. He took several long moments to stop coughing, despite Future Alec’s panicked cries of his name, and when he eventually stopped long enough to catch a breath, he let out a moan of pain. 

“You’re in pain,” Future Alec gasped, the word coming out as if he himself was in pain too, as if his own feelings were an echo of Future Magnus’.

“It’s nothing,” a poor imitation of a laugh reached their ears, the voice still scratchy and trembling from the onslaught of the cough.

“It’s not nothing,” Future Alec argued feverishly. “Where are you? What happened? I’ll come get you.”

“No, don’t come,” Magnus insisted, coming as close to shouting out the order as he could in his clearly difficult state. However, Alec could her the underlying relief in his tone. It was the tone of someone who clearly wanted to be saved. “Our sons need you,” he said, before pausing hesitantly. “Besides, I don’t know where I am either,” he laughed nervously.

“Stop,” Future Alec shook his head. “They need you too.” He looked anxiously down at the boy, asleep in his lap, before he looked back at the light. “Do you know who took you? Anything that could help us find you? Please, Mags, let me try.”

“Don’t beg, darling,” the apparition said again.

“Then don’t give up,” Future Alec argued. “Iz, Jace, Clary, Catarina – we’re all here. We’ll get you back. Just please, who has you?”

There was a pause. And with every passing heartbeat, Future Alec grew paler and paler. He parted his lips when the Future Magnus spoke again.

“It’s Marco.”

“Marco?” Future Alec frowned. “Marco’s been dead for months.”

“Then I’ve been kidnapped by a ghost,” Future Magnus laughed dryly, the sound quickly turning into another cough.

Alec saw how Future Alec’s fists clenched in the effort to not hit something. He knew the feeling.

“We saw him die, you were there,” Future Alec insisted.

“We saw an explosion, Alexander. We never found the body. The man’s a cockroach,” Future Magnus growled. “He definitely lives like one.”

That brought them back to their initial questions.

“Can you tell us anything to help us find you? We can’t track you,” Future Alec’s shoulders slouched in helplessness.

“I can feel his wards so that’s not a surprise,” Future Magnus’ voice mirrored the disappointment. “There are no windows so I can’t see anything. It’s also quiet, so I think the wards are not letting any sound come through. I’m sorry,” Alec could tell that the Future Magnus was trying to sound indifferent, but there were barely there tells that betrayed him. His soft ‘I’m sorry’ was one of them.

Future Alec scrubbed a hand over his face, his shoulders trembling like the weight he's been carrying till now had just doubled. “It’s okay. We’ll find another way,” he said, failing to sound brave. “Magnus, tell me. Is he hurting you? Are you ok?”

Alec could hear Future Magnus sigh. “Darling, I-”

He was interrupted by sudden noise on his end, and he gasped at the heavy rattle and squeaking of a door.

“Shit,” he whispered in panic. “He’s back. Cut the spell,” he ordered. “He’s blocking me from using my magic, so you’ll have to do it on your end.”

“Wait,” Catarina interrupted for the first time. “If we do that-”

“You won’t be able to reach me again,” Future Magnus finished for her. “I know. Do it. He can’t know you’ve found a way to this Time.”

“Can’t we cut the connection without breaking the spell?” Future Alec looked at Catarina with a desperate gleam of hope in his eyes, they could all hear footsteps coming down a creaky set of stairs.

“It’s a one-time thing, darling,” Future Magnus whispered hurriedly through the light as Catarina shook her head, “Do it.”

“We can’t lose the element of surprise, Alec,” Future Jace squeezed Future Alec’s shoulder. “You know I’m right.”

“Hurry,” Future Magnus hissed. They could hear a sound of a lock snapping open. “Tell the boys I love them,” he gasped. “I love _you_.  So, so much”

“Magnus,” Future Alec chocked.

They could hear the door start to open, but they all stood frozen in reluctance to abandon one of their own. As the steps got closer, Magnus seemed to come to his senses.  

“Shit,” he muttered, stepping forward and pushing Catarina aside. A single clean swipe of an arm and the pendant broke in half. They all watched as the orb of light disappeared in a blink of an eye, like a flash.

Everything had happened so fast. From the relief of hearing that Future Magnus was alive to the feverish impatience of finally gaining some information, to the whole ordeal ending so quickly; so abruptly that they were still choking on their fear; fear for Future Magnus. They all looked at the shards of the pendant on the coffee table in a stunned silence.

“He’s gone,” Future Alec whispered. “Again.”

“Alec,” Future Izzy reached to comfort him but he shook her hand off and stood up with Rafael in his arms.

“Let him go,” Future Jace shook his head when she wanted to follow him. “He’s hurting.”

“Will he be okay?” Future Clary asked anxiously. At some point, she had moved to stand next to Future Jace and he now pulled her to his side.

“He will be,” Alec found himself answering. “Magnus needs him. He just needs some time to work through his feelings and compose himself.”

He ignored the soft looks everybody was giving him and purposely made his way the bright blue armchair and took his seat, trying to get comfortable. He had a feeling that the conversation they were about to have was going to be both a long and tiring one.

“So,” he made sure his voice sounded casual as he addressed their future counterparts. If his future self was anything like him (and he was quite sure he was) then he wouldn’t like people hanging around and doing nothing except worry about him. So, yes, he’s going to allow Future Alec some time to collect himself for the task at hand but in the meantime, he’s going to make sure that they are not wasting any precious time, “Who is this Marco guy?”

It took some time to get an answer. Most of them still numb from the last few minutes and their overall misfortune of their timing matching up with their enemy’s visit to Future Magnus.

“He’s an asshole who almost killed us,” Future Jace’s finally answered. “And he was supposed to be dead.”

“This sounds promising,” Magnus laughed humorlessly, discreetly sitting down on the arm of Alec’s chair.

He didn’t know whether Magnus did it or purpose or because there was no other place to sit (he could have easily summoned himself a freaking throne if wanted to) but he appreciated the gesture. And, if he leaned slightly to his right to feel his lover’s warmth, even if they didn’t actually touch, then nobody else needed to know that.

He had just seen a future version of himself deal with the love of his life being kidnapped, held captive and not being able to help him. If somebody had a problem with him appreciating that _his_ _Magnus_ was within his reach, that he was safe, and warm and not currently in some dark cellar, injured and all alone, screw them.

There was one thing he knew for sure - no matter what time Magnus came from, no version of Alec would ever leave a single rock unturned in order to find him.

And this may not be his crusade, but he will make damn sure to do everything in his power so that Future Alec can find _his_ _Magnus_.

Alec couldn’t even begin to contemplate the alternative

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok..so how was it? I admit I need some praises(or complaints) after this one. I've reread it so many times I don't even know how to feel about it anymore, but let me all know what you thought!


	12. The plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and thanks for still hanging around to read this, I really appreciate it. I just want to say, that I do read your comments and they are the thing keeping this story alive so sorry if I haven't replied to all of them.
> 
> Oh, I also changed the name of the villain from Victor( because the first name for a villain that popped into my head was this and I forgot that it's Aldertree's first name, no wonder the name sounded evil :D) to Marco so there's no confusion.
> 
> Beta'd by shiny_starlight :)
> 
> Happy reading!

To say Magnus was afraid was an understatement. Though he did his best not to show it, he was he knew and who were dear to him go through something he could barely comprehend. Well, older versions of those people, but at their core, still the people he loved.

“Okay, I think we need to hear the whole story,” Isabelle said, breaking the silence. Her dark eyes brooked no argument and she had her hands clasped tightly in her lap.

Future Isabelle glanced at her briefly before nodding, “It’s a long story, but you’re right.” She huffed humorlessly. “It happened a bit more than a year ago. The place… the time we come from… it’s different. More peaceful, less friction between the Downworld and Shadowhunters,” she struggled for words, her dark eyebrows pulling together in concentration. “It’s not gone, of course,” she hastened to add, “but it’s better.”

“Sounds nice,” Izzy hummed and as Magnus glanced right, he saw Alec with a sort of nostalgic shine in his eyes. Magnus was well aware of Alec’s goals, of that perfect finish line the Shadowhunter put his heart, soul, and mind into reaching. And though Magnus didn’t need that confirmation to believe in Alec, he knew that Alec did. It was most likely comforting for Alec to know that his goal was not just a naïve dream, that things can change.

“It was… still is, I hope,” Future Izzy mirrored the sentiment.

“Anyway,” Future Clary picked up on the story when Future Izzy took a serene pause. “It has influenced people’s lives. There’re Shadowhunters in relationships with Downworlders, people just spending time together. Actually having decent conversations. It’s not always easy, but people are more open. A lot of it is thanks to Alec actually.” She sighed sadly looking briefly to where Future Alec had disappeared. “That’s where Marco comes in. He was in a relationship with Alice Suddenlight, a Shadowhunter.”

“Was?” Clary, sharp as ever, Magnus had to praise, immediately picked up on it and Future Clary nodded.

“We experienced an anomaly event one day: A huge portal spewing demons everywhere. None of us were there actually; Jace and I had been sent to assist another Institute and Izzy was in Idris. There was a Weapon’s Master Conference or something,” Future Clary hung her head in what Magnus recognized as regret.

“Most of what we know is what we read from the reports,” she clenched her hands with the retelling of the memory. Future Jace moved to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Alec mobilized a fast response team,” Jace continued. “20 Shadowhunters, including Alec, went in… only 9 came back.”

“What?” Jace gasped.

Magnus turned a worried eye to Alec to find him sheet pale and wide-eyed, his heart clenching at the sight. He talked himself out of putting a comforting hand around his shoulders. The stiff spine and the tense shoulders of his Alexander didn’t seem to welcome any touch.

“Where was I?” Magnus chose to ask.

“With the boys,” Future Catarina answered. “As you both became parents, you and Alec decided that barring special circumstances you will not take part in the same missions. Just in case the worst happened the boys would still have one parent.”

Jace nodded in agreement with Cat before continuing. “As soon as I felt something was wrong, Clary made a portal to New York. We got there in time to help take care of the rest of the demons, but after that Alec was in the infirmary for a week with most of the other Shadowhunters from the strike team. Unfortunately, Alice was one of the ones that didn’t survive. She made it back to the Institute alive, but died of her injuries.”

Magnus noticed that the man spoke with a lot less emotion that Clary or Isabelle, and it nearly felt like he was giving them a report. Magnus realized that he was trying to detach himself. He could think of a couple of reasons for it, all dealing with the _parabatai_ bond and the constant need for them to protect each other.

“I guess that didn’t go well with Marco,” Clary suggested.

“An understatement,” Future Jace grimaced. “We actually didn’t hear from him for weeks until one day he ambushed Alec on his way home. Alec got away but since a warlock attacked a Shadowhunter, never mind the fact that Alec is the Head of the New York Institute, protocol calls for the local High Warlock to get involved, thus Magnus.”

Magnus could feel in his bones that the story would just take a turn for the worse but sat still as Future Jace continued; as still as everyone else in the room. They sat enthralled, breath catching in their lungs with each word Jace said.

“Marco saw that as an act of favoritism on Magnus’ part. He was caught, and the Council decided that the New York Institute should decide on the punishment. Alec let it pass as an act of grief and didn’t press charges.” A flash of anger passed Future Jace’s face at the last sentence and that was all Magnus needed to know that that had probably been the wrong decision.  “He disappeared again for a while until Alec started receiving threats,” Jace continued with as growing glower on his face. “We managed to track Marco to a location where we found out he’s been playing with dark magic. When Magnus and Alec confronted him, a fight broke out. It all ended in a huge explosion, we didn’t find the body, but since we barely made it out ourselves I guess we didn’t worry too much.”

Future Jace finished with a regretful sigh, letting that be the only sound in the room.

At least till a new voice rang out.

“It seems we should have worried, huh?” Magnus saw Future Alec reentering the living room. There was no Rafael in his arms so he guessed the man had put his son to bed.

“Alec,” Future Jace stood up but Future Alec waved him away.

“I’m fine,” he said. Magnus would have snorted at it if the situation hadn’t been that serious. Anybody with eyes knew that Future Alec was not fine. But if that’s what the man needed to move forward, talk himself into believing that he was okay, Magnus couldn’t find the heart in himself to stop him.

“So what’s next?” Jace asked. “Do you have any plan of what our next steps need to be?”

The answer to that question could be easily read in the slump of the future group’s shoulders.

“We know that it’s Marco: that’s more than we knew when we arrived,” Future Clary stated in what Magnus saw as a weak attempt to lift the mood. But points for trying, he thought.

“It could be worth looking at the places we knew him to hang out in our Time,” Future Isabelle mussed. “Maybe he would be in someplace familiar.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Alec agreed. Finally joining the conversation from where it seemed he had been lost in his head. “But it would need to be somewhere inconspicuous. He would get suspicious seeing one of us waltzing around. Who knows what he would do to your Magnus then?”

“Would it matter who is it? Wouldn’t he see any stranger as a threat?” Clary frowned.

“If I’m right, and his goal so far seems to have been to keep a low profile, then seeing patrols shouldn’t set any alarms off. I’ve been sending people to look for the missing Shadowhunters anyway. He should be expecting that much.”

“So glamour?” Jace suggested.

Alec nodded.

“We can split into pairs. That way we won’t be catching too much attention and since I already have patrols out it shouldn’t be a problem of blending in.”

“Wait,” Simon suddenly interjected as everybody was starting to nod in agreement. “What about Marco from this time? Or Alice? Shouldn’t we consider them too?”

“I would rather avoid any more friction between the timelines,” Future Catarina shook her head. “Lilith knows what are going to be the consequences of us just being in this Time. If we start interacting and involving more people in this, the ramifications could be unimaginable.”

“Catarina speaks the truth,” Magnus stood up, turning so he could face everybody. “However, we may have to go down that route, despite our fear of consequences. Believe me, I know better than everyone the ramifications of playing with the laws of nature.” All those horrible years with his father flashed in his mind, fresh as ever despite the countless decades that had passed since then. “But I would also rather not leave my future-self in the hands of a madman any longer than necessary.”

He could see the displeasure clear in Catarina’s eyes, but along with it, he saw a reluctant agreement. It was her friend they were talking about, and though she was the most careful of them all, she would also do anything for her family. That was the Catarina Magnus knew, at least.

“Then it’s settled,” Future Alec raised his head, his eyes gleaming with desperate determination. “We split up in teams. Jace and I will take-”

“No,” Alec immediately cut off his counterpart. “We split up so that there’s both a person from my time and yours on each team.”

“Why?” Future Alec gritted out. Magnus could only raise a surprised brow at seeing the two almost identical men stare each other down.

“Because,” Alec sighed, but didn’t bend to Future Alec’s annoyed stare, “you do not belong here, and, frankly, knowing the messes we usually end up getting ourselves into, I don’t want to be left dealing with the consequences of your uncoordinated actions after you go back to your own time.”

Magnus absentmindedly nodded in agreement, along with everybody else from their group. His boyfriend spoke the truth. Besides, he had a feeling that if they pooled their resources, they might resolve the whole mess a lot quicker. He looked outside at the bright afternoon sun, briefly wondering how unfair it was that the rest of the world could just go on blissfully ignorant while they seemed to be stumbling from one crisis to the next. He noted absentmindedly that the group had started to debate how they’ll split into teams and what team will do what, but as they all sprang into an active conversation he couldn’t stop himself from letting his glance linger at the visitors.

His heart gave a worrisome pang at noticing Future Catarina’s pinched brows and the way her hands kept returning to massage her nape: a telltale sign of hers that she was trying to fight off a nasty headache. If not for the pained look in her eyes, Magnus couldn’t tell that she wasn’t _his_ Catarina. She was still keeping herself distant from the conversation, but her eyes wandered from one person to the next like she was a lioness watching over her cubs.

Magnus’ eyes followed her gaze as he gave a closer look to the time-travelers. The low afternoon sun casting the dark circles underneath everyone’s eyes even darker and making the already sharp cheekbones look knife sharp. If he ignored the focused, but worried, looks on everybody’s faces and took away the battle-ready tension that seemed to be ingrained in the Shadowhunter stature, then all that was left to see was just exhaustion.

They were all simply and thoroughly exhausted. And though, like proper Nephilim, they were masters at hiding it, there was no hiding from Magnus how the always majestic Isabelle was slightly slumped in her seat, or how there was a slight tremor to Clary’s hands from the lack of sleep. He didn’t miss how Jace’s eyes seemed to occasionally lose their focus when the conversation shifted from him and his full attention was not required. And though all of that broke Magnus’ heart what truly shattered his soul was the look on Future Alec’s face.

Because he had spent enough tranquil evenings in the comfort of his sheets trying to memorize his Alexander’s features - to catalog how many eyelashes adorned his eyelids or how the shadows fell on his cheekbones depending on the light. He had debated with himself enough what to call the exact color of Alexander’s lips or how to explain how the caresses of a man so strong and battle-ridden could still be so soft and gentle like the most fragile of feathers. He knew the man in front of him in every way a man could know another, and he definitely knew enough to realize that the way Future Alec was at the moment would bring heartbreak to any version of Magnus that ever loved him.

And though Magnus understood that he could do nothing about the complex emotions of grief, determination, and anger swimming in the hazel eyes, he knew he would not forgive himself if he didn’t do anything about the slight sheen of sweat on his pale forehead, the bruised knuckles that didn’t seem to been treated or the long tired sighs that escaped him when nobody was paying attention. As if he was forcing himself to breathe out the exhaustion.

“-nus. Right?”

“Magnus?”

He snapped back to the conversation.

“Yes, dear?” he gave Isabelle a sheepish smile as she caught him daydreaming.

“What do you think?”

He blinked.

“Think about what?”

He saw the weird looks everybody was giving him. They all differed in the level of confusion or annoyance but where equally bewildered. If he was 300 years younger he would have probably felt bad, have stuttered his way through an apology and, probably, most embarrassingly of all, he would have blushed tomato red. As he was now, he just shrugged.

“Sorry, I was thinking.”

Isabelle frowned, “I asked if you agree that we split into three teams. Jace, Clary, Future Me and Future Alec will go find the Marco from our time. Me, Alec, Future Clary, and Future Jace will locate Alice Suddenlight and see if maybe Future Marco has approached her. You, Simon and Catarina can maybe try to find something that can help us locate their Magnus. What do you think?”

It did sound like a solid plan. They had deviated from the original thought of going out in pairs but four seemed safer than two and, frankly, Magnus would take safety over keeping low-profile any day. Besides, the Shadowhunters all looked satisfied with the teams and about ready to head off each in their own hunt.

Well…

Not if Magnus had any say in this.

“Great,” he moved to his liquor table, trying to feign innocence when he was sure his next words would cause a storm, “You can all start tomorrow then.”

The moment-brief silence that erupted in the room was almost comical before all hell broke

loose over his head. Mostly in the form of an outraged Future Alexander.

“What?” he choked out, his eyes unbelieving (much like everyone else’s) and his skin pale.

“You all need rest,” Magnus explained. “If you head out now in the state you are, it will get one, or all of you, killed.” He sighed, looking Future Alec straight in the eye, “You’re exhausted, all of you. You’re running on empty; both physically and emotionally drained. If you go out now, there is a high chance one of you won’t make it back. Your Magnus wouldn’t want that. You need rest. All of you. Food and sleep. I know for a fact that your Magnus would agree.”

“The hell you’re talking about?” he gritted out as he stormed towards him, shooing away Future Jace’s hand when he tried to hold him back.

“You’re not leaving this loft until morning,” he rephrased himself. Snapping his fingers as he ordered his wards to prevent anyone from leaving.

“What did you do?” Future Alec snarled in his face and Magnus had to admit that it was slightly terrifying being the target for all that unrestrained anger and hurt. He had never seen Alec react that way towards him. Oh, he had seen the flame in his eyes directed towards his enemies but never, not even in their rare fights had Alec looked at him like that.

“I locked you all in,” Magnus explained doing his best not to flinch when a flash of wrath lit up Future Alec’s eyes before there were suddenly hands grabbing his collar and pressing him into the wall.

Magnus saw movement behind Future Alec’s back as the rest of the group were ready to spring into action. He raised an arm to stop them from intervening, resolutely holding Alec’s stare for a moment so that his boyfriend didn’t jump to his rescue. He appreciated the gesture, but he knew what he was doing.

He hoped.

“You are all exhausted,” he instead turned his attention to Future Alec who was breathing down his neck like an enraged bull. “Your team is barely keeping together. I don’t even want to know when was the last time you ate, let alone slept. No matter what you Shadowhunters like to think that, runes are not a solution for everything. At this pace, you will burn out. Or in your frazzled mind do something you might regret.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Future Alec hissed. “It was a mistake coming here. Let us go!”

“I won’t,” Magnus glared back with determination even as the fabric of his collar was digging into his skin and it had become slightly harder to breathe. “You’re exhausted both physically and mentally. You barely control your own actions. I cannot and will not let you leave in a state like this.”

“I know what I am doing,” the fire in Future Alec’s gaze didn’t let up and Magnus felt himself being lifted higher as if Future Alec wanted to burn his own resolve into his eyes.

And though he could barely stand on his tiptoes he internally sighed in regret. He had hoped he would have convinced him by now, he had a final blow in his arsenal, but he had hoped to avoid using it.

“Do you?” he asked.

Steeling himself against what he was about to do he let the words flow and rip open new wounds in Future Alec’s heart.

“Are you really aware of what you’re doing?” He looked deep into the familiar hazel eyes, letting his glamour fall and using every thread of his being to get through to Future Alec. Get through to the man buried underneath all that pain, grief and loneliness. “I may not be _your_ Magnus… may not know you the way he does. But I am still the man you fell in love with,” he saw realization slowly glaze over his eyes, “and you…” he gasped, the emotions and the hold on his neck stealing his words. “you are not _my_ Alexander. But I know… I know you… in your right mind… you would never hurt me.” Future Alec’s eyes flickered to where they were holding him in place.  

“It hurts,” Magnus whispered.

The final words were said. To Magnus it felt like a stab of a knife straight into his heart. But they did the job.

No more than a second passed before Future Alec sprang back, his eyes wild and starring at his own hands like he had burned himself as Magnus crashed to the floor in the surprise of being let go.

“What am I doing? Oh, Angel, what am I doing?” Magnus heard Future Alec’s frantic whispers to himself but didn’t have the chance to say anything more as Alec himself was suddenly at his counterpart’s side. Magnus could only look from his spot on the floor as Alec whispered something in Future Alec’s ear before moving towards him and kneeling down.

He glanced at Future Alec behind Alec’s back and saw him brush a hand over his face. Was he crying? Magnus could swear he saw light reflect-

“Are you okay?” Alec took hold of his cheeks, looking into his eyes, studying him.

“I am fine, Alexander,” he sighed. He was mostly tired, more emotionally than physically though.

“Are you sure?” Alec still asked, his hazel eyes boring into his, worry seemingly permanently etched into his brow. His thumbs brushing Magnus’s cheeks in a subtle gesture.

“Yes, Alexander,” he assured, “believe, me, it looked worse than it was.”

“It looked like he was hurting you,” Alec still didn’t relent, and Magnus had to admit that no matter how much he loved Alec’s persistence, it sometimes made his life difficult. He decided to kiss that scowl from his lover’s face instead of arguing. He gave Alec a brief, chaste peck on the lips, grasping his head in his hands.

“He would never hurt me. You know that better than anyone.”

When Alec seemed to reluctantly agree with that, Magnus swiftly got up. He scanned the room briefly thinking of a way to get them back on a less awkward and less emotional footing, but it turned out he didn’t have to as Future Isabelle took charge.

“Magnus is right,” she eyed her companions, “we won’t do any good in the state we are. We can rest today and start fresh tomorrow.”

“No arguments here,” Future Clary agreed before they both turned to the pair of parabatai. Future Jace was standing in front of Future Alec, arms crossed and chin tucked to his chest as he watched his parabatai slumped in a chair with his face hidden in the palms. The posture oozed protectiveness but also a level of a reproach as if he was judging whether or not Future

Alec will come to the right decision. It was apparent Future Jace was waiting for his parabatai to voice their next plan of action.

“Alec?” Catarina spoke when a good while passed without a reply.

Future Alec finally raised his head, the light reflecting in his tired eyes.

“We stay.”

The words like magic sucked tension out of the room and immediately the shoulders of the time-travelers slumped in apparent exhaustion when they were no longer forced to keep up a front.

“Wonderful,” Magnus clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he called forth the magic brimming underneath the surface of his skin. “I’ll get your rooms ready,” he said, waving his arms in the air. He held them there as his magic reached every inch of the loft and he felt his eyes close softly as he visualized and created space where there was none in the beginning. Then his arms were moving again, fingers dancing much like the tendrils of his magic creating, forming, summoning, weaving together in an intricate pattern until he was satisfied with the result. With one final swirl of his hands, his magic created what his mind had envisioned and he snapped his fingers, his magic bouncing back underneath his palms, thrumming as comfortingly as it had before.

He felt a rush of power as his magic came to life and then felt a part of his strength leave him as it did its job and settled. The only proof of the slight exhaustion came in a long breath in as he steadied himself again.

“That should do it,” he waved an arm to the hallway where 4 new guest rooms had appeared. “I believe you can settle it among yourselves who sleeps where.”

“Thank you,” Catarina smiled, “I would have helped but-”

“Dear Catarina, you may come from the future and be a couple of years older but I still know your tells,” he waved her off. “And this precisely,” he motioned to all of her, “is how you look when you’re exhausted and can barely stand on your feet.”

She smiled at him sheepishly, “You always did know me the best.”

“I make it my duty,” he joked before pushing her in the direction of the hallway. “Now, go! Rest. I’ll make some dinner and call you if you’re still conscious,” he teased.

“You mean conjure some dinner?” she raised a tired eyebrow at him.

“Your lack of belief in my cooking skills pains me,” he retorted whilst turning to the rest of the time travelers with a more serious tone. “The same goes for all of you too.”

Isabelle snickered at his demanding tone, “Better listen to the man of the house.”

“Exactly right, my dear,” he nodded, glad to see that their guests all compiled and shuffled out into the hall. He could swear he saw some fond smiles as they passed.

He waited in the hallway to see them all enter their rooms. Clary and Jace went through one door, Izzy and Catarina through two other and that only left Alec, who was hesitating. His hand touching the knob, but his head turned to the door opposite his. The boys’ room.

Magnus huffed in fondness, summoning an extra bed to the room where both boys slept. When Future Alec snapped his head at him, like he had felt his magic come to life, he gave the Shadowhunter a small smile and nodded to the children room.

Future Alec walked over, peeked inside and looked back at Magnus to mouth a silent “Thank you” at him before he as well retreated for a some well-needed rest.

Magnus returned to the living room with a smug feeling blooming in his chest.

“So?” he raised his eyes to the group remaining as Jace spoke up. “What now?”

He sighed the smug feeling from the small victory evaporating when he was once again faced with the bigger problem. He really didn’t want to do anything. Physically he seemed fine but he felt like his mind had just gone through a roller-coaster and hadn’t really had the time to get settled. Everything was new, and every step had to be thought of twice before they could act on it, and even then it felt like they were maneuvering a minefield blind and with their hands tied behind their backs.

His heart though, his heart was about to explode. If his mind was a mess then his heart was a full-blown catastrophe. He didn’t know how to act, how to feel around the strangers who wore the same faces as the people he cared about. He felt like he was going in circles, skipping over the line of indifference like a rabbit. One moment he could keep his head cool, keep the distance, see them as the strangers they were. The other… they were his people:0 it was _his_ Alexander that was in pain and _his_ Catarina that trembled in exhaustion, it was _his_ Clary, _his_ Isabelle, and, yes, even _his_ Jace. But they weren’t. And that made everything confusing.

And with the confusion came the sudden need for calm and familiarity. To do something he knew and be around things that wouldn’t ask from him all these complex emotions. Suddenly, cooking a simple meal wasn’t that bad of an idea, even if it did start as a joke. He knew how to cook. He knew his kitchen. He had cooked before.

The fact that it had been an embarrassingly long time since he had actually prepared a full meal didn’t seem like an obstacle at the moment.

He only hoped something as mundane as food preparation would calm his mind. So, Magnus rolled back his sleeves as he came to a decision.

“I am going to cook dinner,” he announced to the room at large.

“The hell?” Jace frowned. “You’re going to cook?”

“Yes, I am, my deaf friend,” he moved to the kitchen, fully aware of the Shadowhunters and one Vampire that dutifully followed.

“And what will we do?” Jace asked again. Magnus had a distinct urge to look at the closest reflective surface to see if he really did look like a shepherd that was supposed to herd the sheep in one way or the other.

“I don’t know, Jace, what do you want to do?” he asked as he was opening the fridge, squinting at the meager scraps there. Summoning ingredients it is then. He heard Jace’s indignant huff while he was preoccupied with choosing the recipe in his head. Once he settled on what he wanted to make, it was another snap of his fingers (another whoosh of energy leaving him) before the necessary ingredients were laid out before him.

He didn’t even need to look up to know Alec had a disapproving frown on his face. “Worry not, Alexander, they were rewarded handsomely.”

“What are you making?” he felt rather than saw Isabelle lean closer, too occupied of scrutinizing the beef.

“Curry,” he responded before gently shooing her away: he had heard far too many stories from Alexander about her horrendous cooking skills to even let her near the ingredients lest she jinx him. He’d even had to deal with the consequences a few times when Alexander had come home green in the face and sick in the stomach from her well-meaning, but lethal, attempts at cooking.

“Ooh, I love curry!” he heard Simon exclaim but didn’t respond. The crowd in his kitchen was starting to become suffocating and his whole plan was to relax. He felt his fingers twitch in annoyance but had enough restraint to keep quiet.

His fingers were skipping over the ingredients, checking to see if he had everything he needed and that they were of the quality he desired. He was trying to concentrate only on the task at hand but the buzzing of people around him didn’t help. He was about to snap at them, to throw them all out, when Alec saved him. Bless his angelic heart. His voice was also much calmer and steadier than his would have been.

“Let’s leave Magnus alone,” he said, slowly maneuvering people out of the kitchen. “I think we should check in on the Institute, see if there’s any news and update our mother on the next course of action.”

“We can do that,” Jace nodded, taking Clary’s hand. “I can leave my team to Underhill and make sure we coordinate.”

“You do that,” Magnus heard Alec’s voice get quiet as they put more and more distance between themselves and the kitchen. “Also, Iz, we don’t know what we’re fighting yet, but I want to be prepared so can you-”

“Raid the weapons room?” Isabelle chirped in. “Of course, big bro.”

The rest of the conversation was lost to him as they moved away but I wasn’t that long before he heard the door shut softly behind them.

Magnus sighed at the sudden quiet that followed and comforted his old soul.

He made the effort to not think about much other than prepping the ingredients and putting the right amount of spices in the curry: a task which seemed a lot easier than it turned out to be. Despite his focus, his mind still wandered and worried and at one point, he barely saved himself from losing a finger under the knife with his daydreaming.

Still, despite his wandering mind and turbulent thoughts, the double effort he had to put into the preparation of the meal paid off, and he looked at the dish with blooming satisfaction, taking a lungful of aroma and the spices tingling his nose and making his mouth water.

He looked at the clock on the wall: it had taken him more than two hours to prepare the food. Two hours with surprisingly no interruptions or catastrophes falling on his head. Only then did he realize that his plan had worked better that he had initially hoped. He hadn’t really believed that he could retreat to himself like that, but, huh, who knew?  It was almost easier than he thought.

Speaking of…

He’d better go check on his guests. He’s mad enough curry for all of them, but judging from how quiet the loft was, he was seriously doubting if anyone would actually join him. Resigning himself to possible dining alone he washed his hands and dried them in the towel before striding into the living room.

Where he came to a sudden halt at the sight in front of him.

There was none other than his Alexander lounging on the sofa, reading a book. He blinked a few times to make sure he actually wasn’t hallucinating but, no. Alec was still there, quietly reading a book on… Magnus had to crane his neck to see the title… Warlock-Seelie Relations and its Development.

Magnus couldn’t help the fond huff. Leave it to Alec to unwind and relax with a dry political text. The Shadowhunter surprisingly hadn’t noticed him yet so he took the moment to let his eyes wander over the soothing sight of Alec sprawled over the couch, his head resting on one of the armrests and his ankles crossed over the other. He had haphazardly thrown a blanket over himself but in his concentration on the book he probably hadn’t even felt it when it had halfway fallen to the ground.

Magnus couldn’t hold himself back anymore. It was unforgivable that Alec looked that comfortable and didn’t share it with him.

“You look comfy,” he commented, his lips lifting into a smile at the slight startle and then a blush creeping its way up Alexander’s cheeks as he noticed the other presence in the room.

“You know, for a Shadowhunter,” he made his way over to the couch as Alec wearily eyed him, “you’re awfully easy to sneak up on.”

“I am not,” he frowned, scooting back from the edge of the couch to leave room for Magnus.

Magnus only hummed, running his fingers through Alexander’s hair, internally purring at how Alec leaned into his touch. They enjoyed a moment of that simple touch before Alec pulled back, giving him another one of those weary looks from before.

“Sorry,” Alec softly spoke in the space between them. “I know you wanted to be alone… and I didn’t ask you… I just,” he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in nervousness. “I wanted to stay.”

Magnus could only shake his head, letting his hand slide behind Alec’s neck and pulling him up by the nape for a deep kiss.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he breathed out against Alec’s lips when they separated. “You’re always welcome. Always.” He punctuated that last word with another kiss, feeling Alec’s lips pull into a smile.

“You taste like curry,” he chuckled.

Magnus pulled back thinking about the comment before smirking, “I hope it tastes good.”

“The best,” Alec hummed with his eyes closed.

“I have more if you want.”

Still with his eyes closed, Alec nodded, “Definitely need more.”

Magnus couldn’t stop the laugh when Alec pulled him back in, “I mean food. In the kitchen,” he smacked him lightly on the shoulder but leaned in anyway.

“This tastes better,” Alec murmured before capturing his lips. It wasn’t a heated kiss, a kiss that promised more to come. No, it was a calming, self-indulgent kiss that served no other purpose than letting them enjoy each other’s presence and the fact that they could kiss each other like that, soft and loving, without the need to rush or prove anything.

When they pulled apart again, Magnus couldn’t help but tease, looking at Alec with big innocent eyes. “Where did my sweet, innocent Alexander disappear to?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Alec grumbled at him. “He’s about to show up any second now.”

He chuckled as the blush he loved so much reappeared on his Shadowhunter’s cheeks and pulled him up from the sofa.

“As much as I’d like to continue,” he grabbed Alec’s hands “I have great food waiting for us in the kitchen, if I may say so myself.”

“Are you not going to wake up the rest?”

“Nah,” Magnus didn’t even need to ponder as they entered the kitchen, “they need sleep more than they need my cooking.”

“Well,” Alec settled at the table Magnus had magically set for them both, letting the Warlock serve the food. “I know that Iz and Jace were pretty heartbroken at having been deprived of your food.”

“Alexander,” he turned to his lover, hands on his hips, “when have you ever known me to be stingy?”

“Uhh?” Alec seemed to be confused by the question so Magnus helped him out and snapped his fingers. Three take away containers appeared on the table before he snapped his fingers again and they were gone.

“There, I believe that will make them quite happy,” he settled at the table as Alec was still looking where the containers had been before turning to him with a soft smile.

“You’re a good man, Magnus Bane.”

He blinked at the compliment, not really sure he deserved it.

“I don’t think giving your siblings food necessarily makes me good, but I’ll take the compliment.”

“I’m not speaking about the food, Magnus,” Alec’s eyes crinkled in love.

And that…that Magnus didn’t know how to answer. So he just dug into his food and hoped Alec would follow suit.

Which he did, much to the relief of Magnus’ beating heart.

They didn’t talk much for the remainder of the dinner. It mostly consisted of Alec praising his cooking and Magnus smirking at the sounds that would occasionally escape Alec as he took a new bite. Magnus enjoyed the simplicity of things and the fact that Alec seemed to know that he needed it. He needed to take a brief break before all hell undoubtedly broke loose, before there was no time for rest until the goal is achieved.

When they both finished with a happy sigh, he waved his hand to clean it up and without another word led his lover to bed. It seemed like a good idea to follow their guests’ example.

They needed the strength, and, honestly, Magnus doubted if he would be able to convince Future Alec to take a break second time. Most likely this single evening will be the last pitstop in their race to get to the other Magnus. He knew Alec well enough that he would not stop before finding the people he loved.

Leaving Alec in the bedroom, he left to take his makeup off and get ready for bed. His heart was heavy with events of the last day, but his mind surprisingly calm. Like clockwork, they switched: their nighttime routine become so usual it made his heart throb. There was something awfully relaxing about settling down for the night with your lover. There wasn’t any rush, lustful haze or tearing of clothing that usually preceded sex, but it was just as precious. Just as important to Magnus.

As they finally settled underneath the covers, both just in their boxers, Magnus allowed Alec to pull him closer to his chest. He listened to Alexander’s breathing, trying to both lull himself into sleep and judge how far his lover was from the dream world. However, after good ten minutes, he was still awake.

To his confusion, Alec’s breaths didn’t seem to even out.

Almost the opposite. It felt they were getting more nervous, like short puffs of air on his nape.

“Alexander?” he questioned when he felt the grip around his waist tighten desperately.

“It’s nothing,” Alec rasped from behind him, only feeding Magnus’ worry.

“It’s clearly not,” Magnus argued, trying to turn around, but Alec had him pinned in his embrace. “Please,” if he couldn’t make eye contact, he decided to use his words, “don’t bottle thing up. Tell me.”

He squeezed the hand resting on his stomach in the hopes of giving Alec some relief. Magnus didn’t understand what had caused this. He seemed fine during the dinner.

He let long moments of silence pass and was already preparing to ask again when he heard Alec swallow hard before getting his voice to work.

“It’s… this mess,” Alec choked out and Magnus sighed, absentmindedly starting to rub his palm up and down Alec’s form.

“It’s not our first mess,” he said calmly, trying to not let his own emotions show. This was about Alec not him.  “It’s probably not even our last. We’ll get through this.”

“It’s just so confusing,” Alec whined softly.

“I know.”

“He’s me, you know,” Alexander’s voice picked up speed, though in the darkness of their room, he still didn’t allow the volume to rise above a whisper. “And he’s not me. But… I still understand him. And he… he’s in pain.” Alec stopped, but Magnus patiently waited. “I understand that pain, Magnus,” he whispered, his voice sounding suspiciously wet. “And every time he lets it show… every time,” Magnus felt the grip on his waist tighten again, Alec’s hand spreading wide over his heart, “I am relieved… relieved that _my_ Magnus is here. That you’re here and I don’t have to go through that, because… because it would hurt so, so much.”

Alec’s last words got muffled as he pressed his face into Magnus’ neck, but he still heard them. Still understood them.

“Alexander.”

“And I hate myself for being glad I have you. That I can cuddle you and kiss you and hold you and… and” Alec’s words got feverish, his hands trembling and allowing Magnus to finally turn and face his lover, “he can’t. He doesn’t even know if he’ll ever get to see _his_ Magnus or hear his voice. I don’t even understand how he is still standing because I love you so much and I don’t want to go through something like that in the future. I don’t want what’s happening now to be my future. Do you understand?”

Alec was looking at him with wide, almost crazy eyes, his plea so painfully clear it broke Magnus’ heart.

“Nothing can happen to you, Magnus,” Alec cupped his cheek looking deep into his eyes, maybe even into his soul, Magnus thought. “You can’t leave me, Magnus.”

He was speechless for a moment as Alexander pulled his head forward so their foreheads touched, squeezing his eyes shut as if savoring the moment, trying to keep the outside world out.

Magnus waited a couple of minutes before speaking. Giving Alec time to recover from his outburst. To settle his emotions and get ready to listen to him.

“Alexander,” he brushed a thumb under his eyes, a silent plea for Alec to look at him. When he did, after a bit of hesitation, Magnus continued. “Time magic is difficult to comprehend. We don’t know if that Alec’s present is your future. There’s no way of telling,” he explained, searching the moonlit eyes of his lover for a sign that he was getting through to him. “And we will find the other Magnus, Alexander. We will do everything to find him, okay? You would never leave me hanging, would you?” he asked and when Alec’s eyes sparked in determination he considered his goal achieved.

“Never.”

“That’s what I thought,” he indulged himself and gave Alec a brief kiss. “And,” he sneaked an arm around Alec’s torso and settled so that his nose was brushing his lover’s neck. “I love you too.”

Alec huffed, still not too happy, but close enough and Magnus hoped that being close to each other would help calm him the rest of the way. That was all he could do. It was not in his power to make promises he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep. He wondered if Alec had picked up on it, but hoped he hadn’t.

It was a long time till Magnus felt the sleep overpowering them, they didn’t talk, just laid in the darkness, drawing intricate patterns on each other’s skins and mulling the conversation over in their heads.

When he heard Alec’s sleepy words of ‘I love you’ they were much lighter and softer than before and when he felt his hold on Magnus get less desperate and more appreciative, Magnus allowed himself to finally rest as well.

Relived that Alec opened up to him and calmed by the sense that they were in this together, he let his eyes fall shut. Let himself rest in his love’s arms and go to sleep with one thought.

They will bring the other Magnus back to _his_ Alexander.

downright terrified. These were completely new waters to him. A couple of hours ago, he was still skeptical that time travel was even was possible and now he was looking at the people

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? I was really struggling with this one so let me know your thoughts since it's more of a bridge-chapter (is that a thing?) between one phase and the next and I couldn't really figure it out how to write it.
> 
> Leave a comment, they are my food. :)
> 
> Though I make no promises, the next chapter shouldn't take long, I've written most of it. It's just tweaks and editing and hopefully, I'll manage more frequent updates now that we're getting to the good part.


End file.
